


A New Path

by Chynia



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Awkwardness, Confusion, Denial of Feelings, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Fox Miraculous, Friendship, Hate to Love, Heroes & Heroines, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Jealousy, Loneliness, Love/Hate, Nathaniel being the Fox Miraculous, Redemption, Rivalry, Romance, Teens, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-06-09 20:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6922996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chynia/pseuds/Chynia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The akumatized villains are getting stronger. Ladybug and Chat Noir could no longer protect Paris on their own, there's a need for a new hero. Master Fu would go to search for the suitable new miraculous wielder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning Of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Okay, I know that some of you might be waiting for a new chapter of my other fanfic Dreams Come True, but I've been wanting to write this one. Also some things might be different like if Nathaniel still got feelings for Marinette or not, since it's not 100% clear in the original. Also, because we don't know much about Volpina yet, I'm going to go with my own headcanons. Hope you would like this, enjoy~

"Bye bye, little butterfly."

Ladybug lets the white butterfly go, whereto it flies, she doesn't know.  Maybe it returns to Hawk Moth?  It was his after all.  As the butterfly disappears out of sight, she throws her lucky charm into the sky.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

Everything turned back to normal, even their wounds have healed. However, they still felt exhausted.  It had been a heavy battle.  After vanquishing Volpina, Hawk Moth villains were growing stronger and stronger.  It was as if he was becoming really desperate to put his hands on their miraculous.

She took a deep breath and walked up to her feline partner, stretching out her arm, her hand clenched into a fist.  He did the same and they smiled at each other as they bumped their fists together.  "Pound it!"

Ladybug and Chat Noir walked towards the confused akumatized villain.  He had turned back to normal, with no wounds and no memories of the fight.  They asked if he was alright, but instead of answering their question he got really excited meeting the two superheroes of Paris.

"Seems like he's purretty fine now."  The kitty laughed and Ladybug rolled her eyes as she heard the bad pun.  Their moment together got interrupted with the beep of their miraculous, telling them time was running out on their transformations.  They parted, each going their own way.

Meanwhile, an elderly Chinese man saw the news and, of course, the superheroes fighting the akumatized villain.  He stroked his goatee, thinking about the fights he had seen till now.  His turtle kwami flew next to him, looking worriedly at the screen.

"Wayzz." The old master said, very seriously and thoughtful. The kwami turned his head from the screen to his master, paying full attention to what came next. "I think we need a new miraculous wielder. Ladybug and Chat Noir alone are no longer up to it."

Wayzz nodded, agreeing on his master words.  Master Fu stood up and walked to the door without a miraculous box in his hand.  "Master, don't you need to take the miraculous with you?''

Master Fu eyed his kwami who flew after him, but he turned to the door.  "No, that's not necessary.  I want to give a suitable miraculous to the right owner, it depends on that person.  I can't take all of the miraculous with me, that's too dangerous."

Of course that made sense and the kwami apologized for asking such a dumb question. His master laughed it off, replying dumb questions didn’t exist and that his kwami shouldn't worry about it.  Both of them left the house, to search in the big city for a new miraculous holder.

xxx

Nathaniel walked out of school, wondering if his crush was alright.  He knew that he had been akumatized, but he couldn’t recall anything.  However, even at the confusing situation of being in Chloé's room, when he saw Ladybug up close he noticed something. Ladybug resembled Marinette.  He had drawn the both of them and so realized, they were actually one and the same person.  Both of them are brave, kind, sweet, beautiful, confident, ... girls and his list still goes on.  He could never be her hero, if she's a hero herself. He's not needed, no one actually cared about him anyway.  No one ever noticed him in class, until that one moment when the teacher interrupted him drawing Marinette.  And of course, Chloé made it even worse.  The next day Marinette did come to him and gave him a belated birthday present, wishing him a late happy birthday.  He apologized for drawing her, but she didn't seem to mind and told him he could made her seem more beautiful.  The appraisal made him happy.  But it upset him that she didn't interact with him later on.

He sighed and decided to go to the park, sitting and drawing the comic featuring his proper hero.  Sitting by himself on a bench reminded him often how lonely he actually is.  Unlike the rest of the class, he didn't really have best friends.  Well, Alix, didn't really seem to have best friends either, but she just hangs out with everybody.  Even with Kim, although, they mostly challenged each other.  And Nathaniel?  He got no one. Once in a blue moon he hangs out with his classmates, but that was all, no real interacting.

There were moments he wished to be like Adrien, being social to everyone and treating everyone as a friend.  Not to mention that he got a best friend and happen to hang out with Marinette, Nino and Alya.  But after the comic incident, he dared not reveal his feelings to Marinette.  And maybe that was for the best.

He took a deep breath sighing loudly.  He closed his sketchbook, inspiration had dwindled to the non existing point. He just stared in front of him, searching for a positive vibe, a cheerful moment, anything but the depressing feelings he had right now.

He noticed an old Asian man, wearing a bright red Hawaiian shirt with a white flower pattern. It was quite unusual to spot people wearing such an attire this time of year.  It was amusing to catch elderly persons sporting one and it cheered him up, even if he might be a little impolite. He caught the old man scrutinizing his surroundings as if he was searching for something or someone. He put his sketchbook loosely in his bag and walked towards the senior.

He stopped when eying a couple walking towards this fellow, thinking that maybe he was searching for them. However, the  male just bumped into the old man's arm and didn't even turn around to see if the person he crashed into was alright. No, they just walked on, ignoring the gentleman stumbling to the ground.  Nathaniel ran towards the fallen and crouched down to pick up his cane and hand it over to him.

"Are you alright, sir?" He asked worriedly, holding his hand out helping the elder stand.  Because he had been running and shaking his bag a lot, he hadn't notice that his sketchbook had fallen out.

Not until he noticed the man staring at the pages spread open on the comic that he crossed out and the cover with Ladybug, and all those little hearts at the bottom of that page. With a red flush on his face, he grabbed the sketchbook and quickly put it back in his bag.

He sighed softly and turned his attention towards the senior again. "Sir, are you alright? Are you hurt?" The health of this man is more important than his childish drawings, so he should just forget about them.

The man smiled at the boy, telling him he was all good.  "Thank you for worrying about me. Those were some nice drawings, young man." He pointed to his bag and smiled kindly at the red haired boy.

Nathaniel blushed again and rubbed the back of his head, feeling quite flattered. "T-thank you."

"Do you wish to be a hero like Ladybug and Chat Noir?" The old man asked what made Nathaniel look to the ground.

"Yes... But there's no need.  Ladybug and Chat Noir are already doing a great job saving Paris.  I’d... I would only be in their way if I’d became a hero too." He forced a smile on his face, not really understanding why he was so open to this stranger.

The old man detected sadness and loneliness in his eyes, it reminded him of someone else. He wanted to reply to the boy, only to get interrupted by a loud cry of a child. Nathaniel turned around to the sound, noticing a young girl about seven years leaning on the edge of the fountain, with tears in her eyes. He worried that she might fall in, so he ran quickly towards her.

"H-hey, little girl. What's wrong?"

The girl looked at the boy and pointed at the fountain, trying to wipe away her tears with her other hand.  "M-my drawing..." She told him with a trembling voice.

Nathaniel  scrutinized the fountain and saw a drawing floating on the surface.  He rolled up the sleeve of his jacket and took the sheet of paper carefully out of the water, trying not to let it rip apart. He placed it on the edge of the fountain and perused the drawing. It appeared to be a girl holding hands with Ladybug and Chat Noir.  Maybe she was a fan of those superheroes.

He petted the head of the girl and smiled at her. "If you leave your drawing dry in the sun, it will be alright. You know what, I’ll give you something nice. What's your name?"

"Sophie." The girl said softly and wiped away her last tears. Sophie tilted her head on one side and looked curiously at the sketchbook Nathaniel took out of his bag. He drew something quickly and ripped the page out, to hand it over to the girl. "Alright Sophie, here you go."

The girl studied the drawing and her eyes were ablaze with happiness and amazement. She smiled brightly, showing her teeth as she held the drawing close to her chest. "This is so pretty!  Thank you, sir!"

She gave the red haired boy a hug and examined the drawing again. It was a sketch of Ladybug petting her head saying that Sophie was a great artist and Chat Noir holding his thumbs up, commenting that her drawing was beautiful and she should keep practicing. It was a small comic, but it looked really amazing in the kid's eyes.

"I want to be as great as you!" She squeaked with shining eyes, as if he saw stars in her eyes. He smiled and petted her head again. "If you keep drawing and practicing, I'm sure you will."

She thanked him once more and lifted her drawing off the edge of the fountain, but as it was still wet the paper ripped.  Her eyes teared up, but she wipes them away quickly. Nathaniel wanted to comfort her, but she already smiled at him. "I will draw another one! I will keep practicing. Thank you mister."

She left the tomato boy behind as she saw her parents ready to pick her up, she showed them his drawing and then waved the boy goodbye. He waved back and felt really happy to bring a smile to a young girl's and her parent’s face. He always tries to make people happy with his drawings, because it wouldn't only bring him joy but others as well.

He remembered the old man and turned his head, seeing he was already gone. Nathaniel wondered if he was alright, he didn't even get the chance to check if he really was. But since he's already gone, he could walk without to much trouble.

Nathaniel looked at his sketchbook and smiled, finding in Sophie the necessary motivation to keep on drawing.

xxx

Of course Fu witnessed the scene where the boy comforted the little girl. He nodded with a satisfied look on his face and returned to his house. As soon as he returned, Wayzz came out of the pocket of his tan capri pants. "Master, would he be the new miraculous wielder?"Fu opened the big miraculous box, coming out of its secret place and nodded. "I know he would be a great hero, even if he denies it."

He took out the miraculous and put it in the same box as he did with Ladybug's and Chat Noir's miraculous. He was ready to place the box in that boy's room just like he did with the other two.

xxx

Nathaniel noticed that it was getting darker and watched the clock. It seems he’d been drawing for a long time.  He yawned and rubbed at his eyes, putting his sketchbook back into his bag.  His eyes got tired once he was done drawing, but that made sense spending all these hours gazing at his paper. He’d drawn a little comic about him and that little girl, he being a super hero to her. He chuckled when he thought about it. "Yeah right, me as superhero."

When he got home he went to his room right away.  It was then he remarked the little wooden box on his desk. It was a unique casket, nothing he ever saw before. It couldn't be from his parents, they are on a business trip together.

He opened the box and saw a golden necklace, then he got blinded with a bright light in front of his face. He closed his eyes as it was far too bright for him to look at it. Slowly the light diminished and he peeked with one eye to see what happened. Surprisingly there's some weird creature in front of him. He jumped on his bed, his back against the wall to take a big distance from what seemed to be fox like creature.

"W-what are you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta by Tjikicew


	2. Meeting The Fox Kwami

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry to keep you all waiting. orz

The fox-like creature waved with his tiny arm and grinned to his new owner. "Yo, I'm Inarii"

Nathaniel let out a scream of horror, as if he was looking at an horrific scary monster. Though that was quite rude, to be honest, he actually thought that the fox creature, Inarii, was cute. Most of the akumatized civilians had more terrifying auras, but Nathaniel was frightened because the creature could speak. So he hugged his pillow to protect himself, not that it would really be of any support.

"Hey, calm down, buddy. It's not like I'm going to hurt you." Inarii said, chuckling, each reaction of a new owner was a little different, yet, certainly here, amusing as well.

"Just…w-what in the world are you?" The shocked boy managed to ask, still hiding behind his pillow. Not sure if that creature might be villainous or someone trustworthy.

"Well, I'm a god, a kwami to be more specific. I give power to my miraculous wielders, powers similar to those Ladybug and Chat Noir have."

"You give what? Wait, wait, wait. So…" He began as he put his pillow away and tried to process everything his kwami something was telling him. "Ladybug and Chat Noir do have kwamis to?"

"Yup~" The fox answered simple and cheerful, holding his hands on his feet while spinning in front of Nathaniel.

"And you're here to give me superhero powers like them?" The confused boy wondered in disbelief at the kwami who soared closer to him. It held his tiny arms up in a victory pose and smiled to his new owner. "Yes~! Pretty cool, right?"

Fear and doubt were apparent in the boy's eyes. He hugged his knees to his chest, shaking his head wildly as if this was only a dream he wanted to get rid off. " **No.** No no no no no, I… I can't be a hero. I mean, look at me! Who wants to have me as a hero? I… I'm not suited to be one… I-I'm a coward, a weakling! I can't be like the heroes of Paris. I'm... **nothing.** "

Inarii sighed audibly and flew full speed towards Nathaniel's forehead, hitting and hurting both him and his chosen. He ignored the pain and stood straight up in the air, pointing with his right arm towards his wielder.

"Nathaniel, you are the chosen one! You don't get picked if you're not worthy. If you don't have enough faith in yourself have faith in my master or me. Because I **know** you are worthy, I can see that you're selfless and kind. You want to bring happiness to others and protect those who you love right? You go to people in need right away and help them out, you're **that** kind of person. Besides, if you **think** you're not worthy, then act to make yourself worthy. Don't wait until someone gives you a push in the back. I do admit you won't be a perfect hero when you start, but no one is. Everyone starts somewhere, it's just a matter of when they take their first step. Yes, being a hero is dangerous. You need to be strong, confident and have courage, but you can be if you're willing. All you require to do is get up on your feet and start now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident. Just trust yourself Nath, you can be much more than you believe. Become the next hero Paris need."

Nathaniel just stared at his little kwami open mouthed. He didn't think he would get such a serious speech from Inarii. To be told by someone he barely knew that he was worthy, it made him feel… weird. Well, weird wasn't the right word, it was more being flattered and made himself ashamed. Everything Inarii said was right and he should indeed believe more in himself. There had to be a reason why he was chosen. Not everyone could be a hero after all. If the same person elected Marinette to be Ladybug and a boy to be Chat Noir, then he did make the right decision. They were the big heroes in Paris after all, the heroes everyone looked up to. But now those heroes needed help, Marinette needed an extra partner, Paris needed a new hero, they needed **him**. And so he would be there for Paris, and Marinette of course.

"Alright. I will do it." He acknowledged determined, but there was still anxiety in his heart. He was still scared that the worst situations could happen, that he would ruin everything and might endanger the heroes or citizens. But if he got the chance to protect Marinette, to ensure her safety, to 'work' with her, he would do it.

Inarii was cheering in happiness when his new partner took on the job. He flew to his face and give him a soft punch on his cheek. "I knew I could count on you. Okay buddy, want me to tell you how everything works?"

"Please do." The tomato boy chuckled, feeling calmer now. Somehow this fox kwami gave him a feeling that it's okay to relax. It was as if he wasn't talking to a god but to a friend. _"A friend… Eh, maybe he could be my best friend."_ Nathaniel was actually happy to consider this. He knew Inarii isn't human, but who says you have to be a human to share friendship. And having a god as friend was pretty awesome.

"Alright then. First of all, in order to transform, I need to have enough energy. You could just give whatever food you got~ Ah, but I do like to eat rice. Just saying."

"Rice? Like plain white rice?" Nathaniel said in disbelief, not expecting a fox to like rice. He knew a fox's diet was very diverse, with berries, bunnies, grass, eggs and all that kind of things, but rice? He had eaten white rice and it was rather tasteless, though it accompanies other foods quite well.

"Yup~ All kinds are delicious! Though that sweet puffy rice you make for sushi is the best! Number one, the best of the best. I really love the taste of Sushi Meshi!"

He almost screamed how fantastic Japanese Sushi Meshi is, even jumping up and down in the air. Nathaniel could only laugh amused how cute his little friend acted, being so enthusiastic over a rice variant. Inarii realized he should continue with his explanations, so he cleared his throat and tried to look serious again. "Anyway, you would have the power of illusions."

"Oh, so just like Volpina?" The redhead pondered, while remembering that orange fox hero on the news, who eventually turned out to be an akumatized citizen. Some people got footage exposing her identity. She seemed to be Lila Rossi, the girl who sat in front of him, next to Ivan. She doesn't really attend school often, maybe because of that incident, not like he cared.

"...Volpina? Wait, so there has been an impostor while I slept?" Anger surged inside Inarii, heading fast for his head. His tone sounded more and more irritated, almost outraged. "Someone got the nerve to pretend having my powers. Can you show me something of this 'Volpina', Nath?"

"S-sure." He turned on his computer and searched for the news flashes about Volpina. Luckily the event was recent, so he was able to find the videos easily and showed them to the little fox, who crossed his tiny arms and scrutinized the screen ill tempered.

Nathaniel stayed silent while they were watching the video, feeling nervous how his kwami might react. He could sense the cold and abject aura from the fox. He startled when he heard him taking a deep breath and face him with a smile. Seeing him smile with that scary aura made Nathaniel anxious, but he dare not speak out.

"...Well, I got to admit that even for an impostor, she managed identical powers as I would bestow on you. Though they might not be exactly the same? I couldn't discern them very well on this video, but there are some limits on the illusions. They would disappear depending how big they are. For example, you would use an illusion on yourself, like turning into someone else, it would last long. In order for the enemy to make that imitation disappear were to hurt you badly. Deceptions like creating someone, for example making an imitation of a hundred adults would disappear with just a soft punch. So in short, the bigger the illusion and, or the bigger the hit it would receive, the easier it would disappear. Oh and besides that, you need to play the flute in order to create the illusion. Creating them takes some energy, so if you use it too often, it would tire yourself out. However, you could also use the flute as weapon. Just like Chat Noir's staff. Do you understand it or am I going to fast?"

"I-I think I get it. So, do I control the illusions with my mind or something?" There was actually a lot of information, but when he reconsidered the explanation, it was actually easier than he expected. His power didn't really seem that difficult.

"Correct. Creating illusions is utterly using your mind. You only have to imagine something and it will happen. Oh and even though those illusions could disappear, they could hurt someone and has mass as if it were real. For example, you would hit someone with an rock imitation, that person would feel the hurt but in reality there would be no wound and the pain would disappear after a while. Also, just like Ladybug has Lucky Charm and Chat Noir has Cataclysm as special power, you have Fox Fire."

Nathaniel took back his words. Having such powers didn't really seem as easy as he thought it would be. And a special power that's called 'Fox Fire' seemed really something he couldn't use recklessly. "F-fox Fire? That sounds really dangerous. What if I hurt an innocent person? I-I can't be a hero after all. I- "

"Okay, stop right there tomato boy. I haven't even explained what the power is yet and you're already jumping to conclusions. Allow me to explain. The ability of Fox Fire is to create incredibly hot blue fire. However, it has no burning effect on opponents, though it can burn things like spider webs. Anyway, it can neutralize normal fire, so it's more of a defensive power than an offensive. Fox Fire can also be wielded as a shield, though you could also spin your flute thus creating a shield. Once you've deployed Fox Fire, you have but a few minutes before you turn back into your civil form. Your identity must be kept a secret and you can employ this power only once, so be careful when you wield it. Well, I think that's all about the important stuff I got to tell ya. This one is quite obvious, but don't let your miraculous get stolen. Also… please don't deny me. If you do, then I will disappear back into the miraculous."

Nathaniel just ignored the nickname he got and held his hand out so Inarii could sit on it. He smiled kindly to him and petted his head softly with his index finger. "Alright, I won't do that. Don't worry, Inarii. But… Does that mean I have to wear this necklace all the time?"

"Well, that's the idea. I mean, you won't lose it easily if you always wear it right? It's also easier when there's a villain and you have to transform right away."

"W-well, that's true." Even though he agreed, he eyed the chain with doubt in his mind. It wouldn't look weird if he would hide it under his shirt, but what if it comes out of it? Wouldn't that look quite unconventional then?

"Hey, it's not weird to wear a carcanet you know."

Nathaniel watched the small fox in his hand with wide eyes as it just answered the question on his mind. Just for a moment he thought that the little god could also read his mind, he was a god after all.

"Hey, no need to be so surprised. Your expressions are an open book, I could easily guess what you're thinking. Don't worry, a necklace is easy to hide if you're still afraid of getting odd looks by just wearing it."

"No… Ehm… Sorry. It's not a bizarre or weird necklace." He felt quite guilty to think it might look eccentric on him. It wasn't really a girly pendant after all and as Inarii had explained, he could easily wear it under his shirt. He sighed a bit and put it on, feeling the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. He would be a hero from now on, he couldn't disappoint the people and heroes of Paris.

"Is it actually also possible for me to practice my powers? I… I don't want to ruin it when I would fight against someone."

"Well, if you're kind enough to feed me. We could do it tonight, it's best done when no one is around to see you. No one's aware yet that there's a new hero." He chuckled and took to the air again, flying around as if he'd got enough energy and didn't need food at all. But Nathaniel would prepare his dinner anyway, as Inarii had asked. "Ah, I don't have any rice. I'll have to go to the convenience store. Want to tag along, Inarii?"

"Yup~ I should actually always stick with you in case something happens. Do you have some place I could hide?"

"Well, you can hide in a side pocket of my jacket if you're fine with that." He pointed to the two pockets on his jacket. Inarii hid in the left one and poked his head out. "This is actually pretty comfy. It's not too big and not too small."

The redhead chuckled amused, thinking it was a cute sight to see a fox head poking out of his pocket. "All right, let's go then."

They went to the to the convenience store to buy some Japanese rice, although they were more expensive Inarii was worth it. Nathaniel made a new friend after all and he would have to depend on Inarii most of the time.

"You know, you actually accepted it quite quick to become a hero. Most people would still freak out." Inarii whispered, trying to not poke out of the pocket, because he wanted to face his new partner.

Nathaniel checked around if someone was nearby, he didn't want anyone to hear a voice coming out of his pocket, that would be really odd and his secret could also be revealed. It was nevertheless true that he actually accepted to be a hero quite quick, but better to alter himself now then always live in a lonely place without fighting his shyness and without gaining some confidence. He didn't want to stay the way he was. He wanted to be… his true self, to be Nathaniel who was able to express himself and not only through his art..

He checked his surrounding again before responding on the kwami with a soft voice. "Well, you gave me that inspiring speech. And I have to get out of my comfort zone sooner than later."

xxx

"You want me to do what?"

"Make a cool pose when you transform!" Inarii said with a big grin on his face. Nathaniel remembered what to say in order to transform and that was easy. But to think he also had to pose, that was really embarrassing. Of course he thought about some of those transformation poses he had drawn when creating comics previously, but that was a long time ago.

"I don't know any pose yet… So can we do that another time?" He almost begged Inarii for not having to initiate a pose right now. It was something really embarrassing in his eyes and transforming for his first time was already overwhelming.

"Fine." The fox kwami pouted and crossed his tiny arms. "Remember that you can't hear me when you're transformed. If anything becomes dangerous, just detransform. Don't do anything extreme with your powers yet! Alright, say 'transform me' now."

Nathaniel repeated him and suddenly perceived a strong force around his body. Everything happened so fast, from his toes up to his head, his clothes and body changed. When transformed, he ran towards a mirror to have a look at himself. It seemed as if, unlike Chat Noir's, his ears and tail were quite fluffy. When he caressed them, they didn't seem to be made of fur but they were still soft. He shrugged it off, thinking it might just be something magical. He turned around a bit, and watched through the mirror at his rear, noticing a long orange flute on his back. His entire outfit was kinda orange, alike the colour of a red fox. He really did bear a resemblance to a fox with the white and orange color mix on his suit, black on the lower parts of his legs and arms. Of course, like Ladybug and Chat Noir, he got a mask on his face and the edges of his hair seemed to have changed color too. They were an intense orange instead of the red-orange of his hair.

"Hmm, I… actually look pretty cool." He smiled satisfied as he checked himself out. His hair was a bit wilder now, but he still got this long bangs on his left side, though they weren't blocking his eye now.

"Alright, off to the roof." He went upstairs, while being glad that his parents weren't home or else they would see some hero about their house.

Once he was on the roof, he grabbed his flute and hesitated for a while before playing it. He already knew what he wanted to create, but felt quite guilty doing it. He looked around, to check if there was no one around. But there was nobody on the roof as it was pretty high and dark. It made him nearly invisible to prying eyes. He closed his eyes as he blew on the flute, not hearing any sound. He opened his eyes to see if it actually worked, when he noticed the illusion he created in front of him.

"Marinette…"

"Hello, Nathaniel." She smiled kindly to him and he was surprised to hear her voice. He knew that she was an illusion, but she sounded so real. She walked closer to him and held his hand, making him startle. He could even feel her body temperature, like it was a real human standing in front of him. He laughed softly and sad, shaking his head as wishing the illusion to disappear. It disappeared like he had wanted, making him feel lonely as he watched the empty roof. However, it wasn't going to stay empty for much longer.

"Chat, you're being too slow!" The girl in a red suit with black dots laughed as she seemed to regain enough energy to even patrol in the night. However, as she jumped to the next roof and glanced back at her black feline partner, she didn't seem to notice where she would land.

"My lady, watch out! Look forward!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta by Tjikicew


	3. Love Rivals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to show how my Fox!Nath would look like from above. So how his hair would be. I just want to thank everyone for reading “A New Path” and I plan to draw some more drawings for this fanfic on my tumblr account (chiimei)! x3

 

* * *

The girl in red and black polka dotted suit looked in front of her, only to see she would land on a guy in a weird suit. She got no time to dodge him, nor did she had any time to even think of what to do besides screaming.

Of course Nathaniel actually heard the two heroes from a distance, they were being loud after all. Or he was able to hear better with those fox ears on his head. But he actually didn’t consider them landing on his roof till he heard the warming of the cat hero. He turned around to face his angel falling from the sky, quite literally actually.

He was not fast enough to react on time, so she just crashed on him. Luckily it wasn’t a painful fall, aside having a body on him what could be quite heavy. However, his tail broke his fall, making him feel like he landed on some pillows. Maybe that could be the reason why he got such soft and big fox tail.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! Are you alright?” Ladybug quickly got off the redhead and helped him get up on his feet. He laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head, blushing slightly as he was standing so close in front of his crush. “Yeah, I’m fine. My tail broke my fall, so I’m not hurt.”

Meanwhile, Chat Noir also landed on the roof and quickly run towards his partner, making sure if she and the other guy were alright. When he stood next to her, it seemed like both of them were alright. He sighed out of relief and then looked at the guy in front of him. He frowned as he noticed that the guy looked quite familiar. “Hey, don’t you think this guy looks familiar?”

Nathaniel looked with widen eyes at the feline hero, hoping he wouldn’t realize his identity. He held his breath in, thinking about getting his identity revealed already brought him out in a cold sweat. He never expected to meet the great heroes like this, when he wasn’t even ready yet.

“Ah, now I know why you look so familiar!” Chat Noir said as made a fist of his hand and hit it on his other hand, like some light bulb popped above his head. That’s kind of what Nathaniel was imagining when the hero realized the reason after staring at him for quite a while.

“You’re a Volpina fan?” He asked as if he figured everything out and seemed to be proud of it.

Nathaniel let out a soft sign of relief, he was glad that Chat Noir didn’t guess his identity. He did meet him when he was in Chloé’s room, but maybe he had forgotten all about him. And there was also a chance that he was in the same school as he was, maybe he knew him, but that chance is quite slim.

He thought back at Chat Noir’s question and laughed, waving his hand in front of his face. “Who wants to be a fan of a villain? No, no, I’m the real deal. I’m…Vulpino.” _“Yeah, Vulpino sounds right.”_ He smiled satisfied with his name and pointed his thumb proudly towards himself. Even though he knew that Vulpino sounded like Volpina, he wanted the name Volpina to disappear from the people’s memories. Because the only fox in Paris would be the hero Vulpino.

“The real deal? How… do we know you’re telling the truth? What if this is some of your lies and tricks… like Volpina did…” Ladybug took a step back, as she remembered her fight against Volpina again. Sometimes she still got nightmares about her letting the real Adrien fall from the tower. Her body started to tremble when she imagined her crush in front of her, being crushed because of her.

But even though she was still scared of Volpina, she became friends with Lila. She felt really bad about what she had done and somehow there were even rumors going around that Lila was a liar, so no one wanted to hang out with her. Chloé even tried to pull some stupid pranks on her out of revenge that she flirted with Adrien, like putting chewing gum on her bench, making her trip, insulting her, the usual Chloé things. But that made people to be even more scared to hang out with Lila. So Marinette started to hang out with her and it seemed like she could be really nice if she wasn’t telling lies.

Nathaniel wondered what on earth could have happened between her and Volpina. He wanted to call out her name, but Chat Noir was still with them so he couldn’t do that. And he might also let his own identity known if he did that. Instead, he gave her a smile that just seemed so genuinely sweet but still with just the right touch of shyness. He saw that Ladybug calmed down a bit because of that and he got a bit more confident in himself.

“I’m a real miraculous wielder, Ladybug. Just like you, I have a kwami. Please trust me. There’s no way I would ever lie or hurt you. After all…” He took her hand gently and pressed a kiss on it. “I want to protect you, my angel. You had saved me, no, you have saved Paris multiple times. Now it’s my time to repay you.”

_“Nathaniel, what did you just do? What’s with calling her an angel? She was one though, but omg why did I even say it aloud?  Since when did I become such a sweet talker? Though that was pretty smooth of myself, but still! I even kissed her hand! Is this because I’m wearing a mask? Am I actually really like this? Well, it was on my mind to say this to her and I do love her. And I also feel more free and quite confident in myself with the mask on. But this sounded too much like a confession! And Chat Noir is even watching this! He might kill me…”_

He might have looked calm on the outside, but he totally panicked in his mind. He glanced at the feline guy for a second, hoping he won’t kill him for talking like that with Ladybug. He saw him glaring at him, what him feel quite scared. But when he thought logistic about it, he knew that Chat Noir was actually a great hero. He even noticed once on the news that he took care of the victim, while Ladybug was talking to the press. He wouldn’t go as far to kill someone when someone would kind of flirt with his love.

 _“But maybe he would treat me as a love rival now… Well, there’s no turning back now, I got to prepare myself to treat him as a rival too. After all, I won’t give up my love for Marinette.”_ He thought determined, after all he still had a card up his sleeve.

“Hey, hold on a sec, fox boy!” Chat Noir stood defensive between his lady and Vulpino, making him pull his hand back quickly. “What if this is all a lie? Just one of your tricks to convince my lady. I won’t fall for this for the second time. Foxes are well known being sly tricksters after all.”

It was quite understandable why he acted such way though, so he couldn’t really blame him. However, there was still a slight annoyance because of how he thought about foxes. “You don’t need to act like a cat on a hot tin roof. Foxes might be known for their tricks, but those tricks can’t be all bad. They could be used for good, like tricking the enemy. And foxes are wise, noble animals, honored for their wisdom. You can’t just claim foxes are all bad based on the negative part what they’re known as. Besides, my special power won’t destroy something like your cataclysm, **cat boy**.”

Both of them locked gazes, snarling at each other but not yet at blows. It made the atmosphere feel tensed as the intensity of their mutual loathing was so intense that it manifests as crackling streamers of lighting arcing back and forth between their eyes. Ladybug had to stand between them before they would fight each other.

“Calm down you two. Chat, let’s give him a chance alright? Just like what you did to Volpina. He knows about the kwami, so he must really be a miraculous wielder. Besides, he won’t just get chosen if he wasn’t a good guy.”

“…Fine.” He sighed out loud and hold his hand out towards Vulpino, still annoyed about the fact he got to fight along with the fox boy. “Partners?”

Vulpino shook his hand and smiled annoyed when Chat Noir was suddenly tightening his grip. “Partners.” Both of them tighten their grip even more as if they’re challenging each other who was stronger and who would give up first out of pain.

Ladybug facepalmed herself, while shaking her head. “Ugh, just give it a rest you guys. Vulpino, are you going to come along with us? We’re almost done patrolling.”

They let go of each other’s hand, looking at their lovely lady. Vulpino was holding on his right hand, trying not to show that he was in pain. He knew that Chat was strong, but to be so strong or put all of his strength on the handshake was something he didn’t expect. He wasn’t even sure if that was really all of his strength. Even though he tried to hide that his hand hurts, the cat boy seemed to notice it and grinned at him, as if he won this battle. As he thought, that cat would treat him as love rival.

 _“I should train if I want to be as strong as Chat Noir…”_ He was determined to take the feline hero on as love rival. However, if he wanted to stay on the same ground as him, he should get stronger so he wouldn’t stand in their way and be able to protect the lady.

“Thanks for the offer, sweetheart. But I will pass for now. I still need to try out my powers and get a bit more used to them.” He smiled kindly at her, feeling confident enough to call her sweetheart and maybe some other nicknames in the future. After all, he wouldn’t be brave enough to do that in his civil form.

“Alright then, maybe next time? We mostly patrol every day at night at eleven o’clock or an hour after the sun goes down. We will wait for each other around ten minutes at the Notre-Dame.”

She was being really serious and acted as if being called ‘sweetheart’ didn’t affect her. But it kind of did, she was feeling quite flattered, just like when he was calling her an angel. Those words of his touched her, but she didn’t want to show it because of her feline partner. Chat might see some more chances to make puns or things to call her. And good thing he stood quickly in front of her, because she was actually blushing when he kissed her hand. She was used to it when the kitty does it, but not with another guy.    

“But if you’re too busy, you **don’t** have to come. We all have our civil life too, after all.” Even though Chat Noir just wanted to show a bit of concern, it sounded more like he didn’t want the fox hero to join them. After all, he wouldn’t have a lot of alone times with his lady anymore now another guy appeared who also seemed to have a love interest at the same person as he had.

“I will join you tomorrow.” Vulpino smiled, a smile what annoyed the kitty even more. Vulpino could even imagine the black kitty hissing at him and that actually amused him.

“Alright then, see you tomorrow Vulpino.” Ladybug smiled kindly at him and waved him goodbye, while jumping to another building using her yo-yo. “Let’s go, Chat!”

Chat was piercing his eyes at the fox, opening his mouth, but closed it again. In the end he sighed and shook his head before he followed his partner.

“I wonder what he wanted to say…” Vulpino just watched the heroes go and sighed as he was alone again. “Better train hard.”

He blew on his flute, making Chat Noir stand in front of him. He smirked at the illusion as he stood in a fighting pose. “I could use him as my training partner for now.”

He held his flute tightly as he dashed forward to the feline illusion. He tried out different moves he saw in movies. Movies or just cartoons could always be some useful references for his comic, though he thought using a tablet would be easier to use. He got an eidetic memory, so he could just draw everything what he had seen before. However, he couldn’t memorize texts as easily and understanding something was also something different than just memorizing, that also explained why he wasn’t so good in science.

Hours passed as he practiced Japanese martial arts, in particular bojutsu. It was a martial art he had seen before, using a bo as weapon. A bo was a very long staff weapon and his flute was also like that, though much shorter. He also tried out jumping from roof to roof, like he saw Chat Noir and Ladybug doing with ease. He was scared to do that at first, but he knew he was able to create an illusion like some big pillow or something if it went wrong and he would fall down. He never thought that his legs were able to bring him to another roof. It seemed like his strength and condition were in a better state once he wore the suit.

“I guess this is enough for today.” He sighed aloud, feeling slightly tired. He was really glad there was no school tomorrow, since it was already late. He went back to his house and went straight to the kitchen to detransform. He had been in his suit for a long time, so he guessed Inarii would be tired and want some food.

Inarii popped out of his necklace and fell down as Nathaniel transformed back. Nathaniel quickly hold his hands out, catching his little friend who looked very tired. “Are you alright, Inarii?”

The little fox smiled tiredly and nodded. “I will be fine when I eat something.”

The redhead also suddenly felt really tired, so he would also eat something to regain some energy. He put Inarii on his shoulder and walked to the fridge to take some cherry tomatoes for himself. He then opened a cupboard and took a pack of rice crackers out of it. “Do you like rice crackers?”

“Yup, totally! I love to eat them as snacks~” Inarii already sounded as if he got more energy just seeing the pack. Nathaniel chuckled and walked towards the kitchen table to sit down. As he sat down, as Inarii slowly flew on the table to sit down. He opened the pack of rice crackers, giving one of them to his kwami. Maybe he should bring those rice crackers along, they were easier to take than rice. And rice would also get less delicious when they’re not fresh.

Inarii was happily eating the rice cracker, what was bigger than the kwami himself. It looked really cute, so the tomato boy couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle out of amusement. He was enjoying his cherry tomatoes too. It had been a while since he ate together with someone other than his parents. He remembered Inarii’s speech again and felt really glad that he met him.

_“Things would be different from now on, it might be a dangerous path I would walk on. But I know I can do it because of you. Thank you, Inarii.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out this fanart of this chapter: http://re-unknown.tumblr.com/post/145881389369/a-new-path-fic-by-the-pawsome-chichinatsu


	4. My First Hero Job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a quite long one, but I hope you all enjoy it! x3 (I got nothing else to say xD) Be sure to check out the fanart of the previous chapter! :3

"What are you drawing, Nath?" Inarii poked behind Nathaniel's shoulder, while looking down on the sketchbook to see a drawing of himself as Vulpino and Ladybug together, while Chat Noir was sulking in the background.

The red haired artist got totally startled by the sound of his little partner, not expecting the kwami to be done with his food so soon. He prepared some rice for him minutes ago, so while Inarii would be eating he will draw something.

Inarii was actually not done eating yet, but he got curious to see what his friend was doing. He seemed to be so concentrated that he just wanted to see what was going on. So the little god decided to take a look before finishing his lunch.

Nathaniel quickly covered the drawing with his upper body, using both his arms and his head to cover the drawing. It was like he was protecting the drawing with his life, while feeling the heat growing in his cheeks till his ears. "I-it's nothing!" That was the dumbest reply he could give. Of course he wouldn't be drawing nothing, that would be stupid. And he already knew that Inarii wasn't someone who would buy that.

"Aww, come on buddy. No need to be ashamed, it's a beautiful drawing after all~ Though Chat Noir can't see this drawing. Ah, I do know that Tikki loves those kinda stuff." He chuckled as he could imagine her giggling and totally approving it. He could still remember how she loved love stories and always supports her partners with their love life.

"Tikki?" Nath looked up, at the kwami who was now flying in front of him above the drawing. There was still a slight pink color on his face, but he seemed to calm down a bit because of his curiosity.

"Ah yes, Tikki is the name of Ladybug's kwami. She's really sweet and cute~ I'm friends with her, well, actually with all the kwami's. Tikki always gives her support to everyone. Then there's Plagg, Chat Noir's kwami. I love that guy, he could be a troublemaker, but it's always fun to hang out with him~"

He talked happily about his good friends, thinking back about the times they were able to spend time together with their miraculous wielders. It didn't happen often, as the identities of the heroes should be kept a secret. But once they were able to hang out, he sure treasured the time. He missed them a lot, sometimes he just wished that the whole secret identity would just disappear.

He glanced at the drawing, as he saw that his partner didn't cover the drawing anymore. He smirked and wanted to talk about that again. After all, he wanted to know more about his partner. "But hey, this seems to be a romantic scene. A kiss between Ladybug and you as Vulpino, how cute~ You really love her, don't you? Well, I could've already guessed when you were flirting with your 'angel' yesterday night." He chuckled as he thought back about it. He never knew his partner could be such a smooth talker with the mask on. And he was actually proud of him, after all, that meant that he got more confident in himself.

The artist seemed to have turned into a tomato, as his face was burning red out of embarrassment. He didn't expect that Inarii would know what he had done or said as Vulpino, though it did make sense that he would know about it. He wanted to run to his room and cover himself in his blankets, not wanting to see the fox's face for a while. But instead, he just nodded with his head. There was no turning back anymore, he couldn't really hide his feelings when his kwami saw a drawing of Vulpino and Ladybug sharing a kiss together.

"You know, you can ask me for any love advice~ All of my previous miraculous wielders got a happy love life in the end and I would make sure to give you one too." He grinned, having some ideas in his mind. He already loved the tomato boy, he was so adorable that he just wanted to see him happy.

"Previous miraculous wielders? What were they like?" He got quite curious about it. He heard from Alya on the Ladyblog that Ladybug could be very old. After he found out who the girl behind the mask was, he figured it must've been a Ladybug in the previous generations.

"Well, everyone was different. Girls, boys, young or quite old. It's actually not quite often to have a miraculous wielder of you age. But the guardians always look at the heart of people and if they're suitable for the job, they don't look at the age. The guardian regularly keeps some people in his mind before choosing them, meaning he already researched on the possible wielder. But aside from that, you asked what they were like. They were all different actually, but they do have a few things in common. They have a creative mind and they were all dreamers. Some took actions to live up their dreams, some didn't. I supported those who needed a little push."

"Like me…?" Nathaniel felt like the fox miraculous actually indeed suits him. He did have a creative mind, being an artist and all. He was also a dreamer, he actually drew them in a comic, already knowing they wouldn't come true. But now, things have changed. He did become a hero and even become more confident in himself, though that would only happen when he wore the mask.

"Yes, just like you. Not everyone accepted to be a hero right of the bat. It's understandable, taking the path of a hero is dangerous after all. But most of them did a great job." He smiled proudly, happy to actually talk about his previous partners.

Nathaniel actually wanted to ask why it was most of them and not all, but he could kind of guess what happened to the others. They might have used the power for evil like Hawk Moth does, or they didn't… He shook his head, wanting to think about something else.

"So… Now it's time to talk about you~ What do you love about Ladybug?" The little fox asked excitedly, planning to help the shy artist out.

"I-I…" Nath could feel the heat growing on his cheeks, wondering how it was even possible to blush so many times. He swept his bangs up with his left hand and leaned on it, while staring at his drawing. His lips curled upwards as he placed his right hand on the drawing and traced over Ladybug with his index finger.

"She's sweet… She's brave, beautiful, cute, kind, confident and selfless… She's… She's sometimes clumsy, but that's also a cute part of her. I-I… I just love everything of her. She's just perfect in my eyes."

"Even though you don't now the girl behind the mask?" Inarii tilted his head to one side, while wondering how he knew Ladybug so well.

"With or without the mask, she's the same person. And I… I actually fell for both of them. Ladybug saved me and it was then I fell for her. After knowing she was actually the same person as my first crush… Everything made sense. I've been watching Marinette so many times, drawing her from head to toe. Then… after Ladybug saved me, I started drawing her many times. And I realized… a lot of things. Marinette changed since Ladybug appeared, she was able to talk back to Chloé. She… has become brave and selfless, even lovelier. And her being Ladybug made it even more impossible for me not to love her..."

He sighed and looked dreamy at his drawing, tracing his finger over her eyes. "Her eyes are so dazzling, her laugh sounds like music in my ears and then not to mention her lovely smile. She's… like the light. Shining so brightly like the sun on a clear day. While I'm- "

"Fantastic, artistic and brave too. You're a hardworking guy who will achieve your dream. You are someone Paris should be proud of to have. Don't even think about belittling yourself. Stop comparing yourself to others, instead of thinking that you're less great that them, admire them and learn from them. You are great on your own way and they feel the same. Everyone got someone they admire, some belittle themselves too, but there's no need for that. It's like comparing the speed of a jaguar with the intelligent of a dolphin. You can't compare those, because their abilities are different. Just like you and any other person, everyone is different."

Nathaniel gently pulled Inarii towards himself, hugging him softly against his cheek. "Thank you, Inarii. You're right. I should really stop doing that."

Inarii was firstly surprised that he suddenly pulled, though it was gently done. He was glad to see his boy cheered up again. He loved to see smiles on people's face, mostly of his partners. He hugged the shy artist with his tiny arms and chuckled. "I will help you out with your love life, Nath. Don't worry."

xxx

Suddenly he felt all nervous again, he couldn't help but doubt himself when he was standing on the roof of the north tower of Notre-Dame. He was ten minutes earlier than the meeting time, so the great heroes of Paris didn't need to wait for him. He walked around in circles, playing with his fingers nervously. Once in suit, he remembered again that Chat Noir saw him as love rival. He hoped that wouldn't stand in their way for saving Paris.

His fox ears twisted up as he heard the sound of a swinging yo-yo. He looked at the direction where the sound came from and saw the lady in red jumping towards his direction. He looked around in panic, blowing on the flute to make a mirror of his size appear in front of him. He checked at himself, looking if he didn't look weird or anything. Well, weird was not the right word, he was wearing a fox suit for fox sake. So he checked if his hair was alright, if he wasn't looking bad and in all honesty, he looked quite cool in his hero suit.

He heard the sound of the yo-yo coming closer, so he quickly made the mirror disappear. It would look strange if Ladybug would see him checking himself out in front of his own illusion mirror. He cleared his throat and leaned on something like a thin pole on the top of the roof.

As soon as Ladybug landed on the small roof and walked towards the fox, he was biting his lips a bit while smiling, enhancing the size and fullness of the lips and made the smile appear sexier and playful, a quite flirtatious smile.

"Good evening, sweetheart." He was actually glad that the roof was so small, now that space between them seemed to be closer. He could feel a tingling feeling in his stomach as she was walking even closer to him.

"Hey Vulpino." She smiled at him, a smile that shined like the stars in the sky, with no bright city lights to dim them. It was like the moon appeared behind the cloud, to just shine on her. She held her hand out, making Vulpino stop staring at her like she was some angel. He looked questionable at the hand, but shook it anyway. "This is a bit late, but welcome on board."

The red fox was surprised at first, but then he smiled genuinely at her. "Thank you, Ladybug. I will do everything I can to give you support."

He stared in her beautiful bluebell eyes, still holding her hand. There was a silence, but it wasn't an awkward one. Ladybug stared back at his turquoise eyes and noticed that even though he smiled genuinely at her, a smile that was similar to the way Chat Noir smiled at her, it was those eyes that shined the most. It made her feel the irresistible impulse to smile back, because of those eyes as they showed the sincerest and pure emotion. She knew that those eyes would never lie, her instinct told her that she could truly trust this new hero.

Suddenly there was a loud scream coming to their way. Vulpino turned his head towards the spire, the direction where the sound came from. He saw a black kitty jumping towards them, making Vulpino and Ladybug take a step back out of surprise as he landed between them on his hands and feet. He stood straight up and saluted with two fingers as he also winked at Ladybug. "Hey there, my lady." He turned his face towards Vulpino and glared at him. " **Vulpino.** "

He turned his face back towards his lady as he was having a big grin on his face. "What a beautiful night, don't you think?" Somehow Vulpino could see him shining brighter than usual, as if Chat was pretending that his interruption didn't happen.

The lady in red with polka dots facepalmed herself as she was already feeling tired of her partner. She didn't want them to fight each other like yesterday, just thinking back about it made her sigh loudly. "Look, you two better get along with each other. I will patrol alone, I will take the right side and you two take the left. If anything happens, call me. This is your chance to get to know each other better and hopefully get along. No fighting, understood? I really don't want to deal with this when we have to fight against an Akuma."

"Alright. But can I ask something before you leave?" Vulpino asked carefully, seeing how annoyed and tired Ladybug looked. She nodded, gesturing that he could ask whatever was on his mind.

"Can we change the meeting place? Notre-Dame is a famous building, so there are always people around here. Though that would be less in the night, but as you can see, light shines on this building. If people would look above from afar, they might spot us easily. This is of course a nice building, with its height, but too risky if we don't want people to see us."

"Well, **excuse me** for choosing this building. Got any better building in mind?" Chat said, sounding offended as he was crossing his arms. He had to convince his lady to take this building as meeting place, as she didn't want to meet at the Eiffel Tower. He wanted to have a quite romantic place to meet up, but now that a new guy appeared, it wouldn't matter anymore.

"…Well, how about a school building? That's the most place people want to avoid, after all." He hated school, so at least for him it was right. There was nothing fun for him at school, so he wouldn't really want to go there out of free will.

"That's a good idea. I wonder which school would be good… How about the Collège Françoise Dupont? It's near the Eiffel Tower, so we would be able to go to the tower when something would happen and we need a better view on it." Ladybug agreed with the idea, though she had to be more careful in the future. She lived close to the school after all and she didn't want one of them to see her coming out of her room. Though she could use the excuse that she just happened to jump there.

The redhead seemed to be surprised by her suggesting their school. Of course he and she knew where it was, so that would be no problem. Also he could bet that Chat Noir would also know where the school was as there were a lot of akumatized villains there. But the school was still close to Marinette's house, the place where Ladybug lived. She could be spotted going to her own house, revealing her identity. But maybe she got some ways to get out of that situation or else she wouldn't have suggested it, she was a smart girl after all. She wouldn't be the one to make such a huge mistake.

"Sounds good to me." Vulpino answered and the kitty agreed, though he could still feel some anger boiling inside the feline guy. The fox hero really felt uncomfortable when he was staring daggers at him and it even made it more awkward when Ladybug left, not wanting to deal with the jealous cat.

After some staring, the cat took his staff and made it grow longer as he was jumping to the opposite direction of where his lady went. "Let's go, foxy."

That was a surprise. Vulpino actually expected some fight with the cat or a declaring his love for Ladybug, but instead, he jumped to the other roof, leaving him dumbfounded.

"Hurry up! We don't have all the time." The kitty yelled at the speechless boy, making him shake his head and follow Chat quickly. Seemed like even though Chat wasn't very fond of the fox, he still took his hero job seriously. Vulpino couldn't help but slip out a chuckle, feeling less tense than before.

As they were jumping on every roof, looking around if there was some crime going on, Chat shoot sometimes a glance towards the fox. He still didn't trust him, but he knew that his lady does, so that left him not many choices but to just accept him in the group.

"Fire." Vulpino suddenly said, standing on the rooftop, looking towards the direction of the smoke. Chat stopped on the rooftop too and looked towards the direction where the fire was. "What are you standing there for then? We got to go there!"

Chat Noir dashed towards the building that was on fire, while trying to call LB. Vulpino quickly followed the feline hero, feeling some excitement and anxiety inside of him. This would be his first hero job, but he didn't know what to do.

When they were close to the fire, they saw that the whole building was on fire. It seemed to happen recently as people were still calling the firefighters. Some people were still able to run out of the building, but they were all injured. Chat Noir already called Ladybug, she seemed to be on her way, however they can't just stand there waiting for her to save the day. Chat Noir was already planning to dash inside to see if there were still people inside.

Vulpino just stared at the building what was on fire, his whole building was trembling out of fear. He panicked as he didn't know what to do to help. Maybe he was able to create firefighter's illusions, but those were illusions. It might not work if the water would also just be an illusion.

 **_"_ ** **_The ability of Fox Fire…it has no burn effect on opponents…. It can neutralize fire."_ **

The voice of Inarii suddenly popped in his head as he started to remember that he still got his special power. _"Fox Fire could neutralize fire, of course!"_

"Fox Fire!" He shouted as he held his flute up with his right hand. The flute turned into some hot blue fire, flying above his right hand. He could feel the warmth of the flame, but it didn't burn him.

"Wait, what is that? What are you planning to do?" Chat Noir asked as he stared at the fire. He got a bad feeling about it. Just when he saw the smile on Vulpino's face, his mind told him to stop that fox, but his body didn't move.

Vulpino didn't hear the kitty as everyone was screaming out of pain or panic. He could do something right and he really believed it would work. He threw the blue fire ball towards the building, the blue flame became bigger, covering the whole building. He looked at it with a smile of amazement on his face, he even saw that the people who just got out of the building appeared with a blue flame around them. Everyone was screaming in panic and fear as their mind thought that they were burning alive. Vulpino wanted to tell everyone that the fire wouldn't hurt them. However, before he got the chance, someone suddenly grabbed him by his collar and pushed him against a lantern. The fox groaned out of pain as he hit his head against it.

Chat Noir saw that Vulpino was still smiling, even when people were on fire, the blue fire he created. Something inside of him snapped, he couldn't take it anymore as betrayal and anger overwhelmed him. He dashed towards the fox, grabbing him by his collar and slammed him against the lantern. He saw that the flute appeared in his right hand, so he grabbed it out of his grip and threw it away.

"I knew it! You are a bad guy after all, trying to deceive me and my lady with your filthy lies! I've enough of you sly foxes!"

"C-chat? Wha-" Vulpino tried, tried to understand what was going on and tried to say something to the angry cat. But it didn't work. He was too scared to say another word and it would make things only worse anyway.

" **SHUT UP!** So that was your special power? It wouldn't **destroy** something like mine does you said? Hah, what a **lie**. You **killed** people! You put them on **fire**! If that was really your special power, then we just have to wait till you detransform so I can hand you over to the police!"

"Chat Noir, what are you doing?!" Ladybug screamed, as she jumped to Chat Noir. She wanted to put her hand on his shoulder, to pull him away but he slapped her hand away.

"I'm sorry my lady, but stay back! This guy is dangerous. He is just like Volpina, a nasty liar! He tricked you, **us**!" The first beep was coming from his necklace, making Chat look at it. "Ah right, if I take this necklace of you now, you would detransform right away. LB, are there police around? I need to hand them this fox over, so they don't need to go on hunting when he gets free."

"Chat, what are you talking about? What is going on! Explain this to me first!" Ladybug screamed angrily towards the cat, what made him startle. She saw that Vulpino looked very scared, she couldn't just stand by and watch how her partner attacks him like that. This was really unusual of Chat, seeing him rage in anger like that never happened before. He was always able to keep his cool.

"Don't you see?! This guy burned the building and put people on…fire?" As he turned around to face his lady, he saw that the building wasn't on fire anymore, nor are the people. There was no trace left of the building, as if it was never on fire. It even looked like the building was new, as if the blue fire also repaired everything was burnt. He looked at the people, looking strangely at their bodies as they realized that the fire wasn't even that hot and healed all their burns, like they were never there in the first place.

"What's… going on?" He let go of Vulpino's collar, making the red fox fall down on his knees. Somehow he got so scared that his legs gave him away. He was really scared that the cat would rip off his necklace and made him detransform in front of the girl he loved. He looked at his necklace, there were only two out of five stripes left.

"I have to go." Vulpino said weakly as he was walking towards his flute and grabbed it. He looked at the confused black cat and opened his mouth to say something, but got interrupted his one but last beep of his necklace. He quickly blew on his flute, making wings appear on his back. He thought about himself flying away as fast as possible and that happened. He never got to experience flying, but his mind didn't let him get impressed by it. He got to go to his house before the transformation would wear out after all. However, he was too late. Just like his suit disappeared, so does his wings.


	5. My Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm so sorry it took so long! Yesterday was my birthday, I was planning to upload it yesterday but I wasn't able to do that in the end. Hope you would enjoy this chapter! ;w; Also, I really want to thank every reader who like my story so far. It makes me really happy to receive those reviews, it lets me know that I'm actually doing a good job and I should continue with this story. So thank you very much. Well anyway, without further ado, enjoy reading~

"Chat Noir! What was that about? Expla-!" Even though she was confused and really angry at Chat about what he had done to Vulpino, she could no long stay angry at him as she saw he regretted it. Guilt was showing on the way he was standing, even when his eyes were hidden behind his bangs as he looked at his hands. Ladybug sighed and put her hand on the kitten's shoulder, making him flinch for a bit.

"I don't know what happened between you two, but you can explain it to me another time. I think it would be better for you to just go home and calm down." With that, the only respond she got was just a slight nod from Chat.

xxx

"Are you alright?" Inarii asked, getting tiredly out of Nathaniel right hand. As they were falling down, Nathaniel grabbed his kwami and hold him in his hand against his chest to protect him.

"N-not really… But I survived." Nathaniel said, feeling the pain all over his body. He was still lucky to just fly 1 meter above a tree as he transformed. He was able to catch his little friend, as the height for him would take a bigger impact if he fell down. The redhead boy leaned against the tree trunk as he was sitting on a big branch. Luckily he wasn't falling on the big branches or else he would've broken his bones. He fell through the leaves and was able to grasp the highest branch before falling on the one he was sitting on. Even though he fell through the leaves, that didn't mean he didn't hurt himself. There were still some small branches he bumped into, what actually slowed his fall down.

"Mostly my left arm and hand hurt…" He looked at his left hand as he saw it was bleeding. Normally he would actually panic when he would see some blood, mostly on himself. He always had been careful with his body, not getting injured at all, mostly his hands were precious. It was a good thing he was ambidextrous, though he mostly drew with his right hand. His right hand wasn't badly injured, only some small cuts on the front when he was protecting Inarii. Though he would normally panic, he was now just glad he survived the fall.

"Nathaniel! Your hand is bleeding! We have to cover that quickly, do you have a handkerchief?" Inarii almost flipped as he saw the blood. One thing he couldn't stand to see is his partner hurt, it only brought bad memories back and he didn't want some history to get repeated.

Nath searched in his pockets with his right hand and actually found one. "Oh, found it." He wrapped it around his hand with some help from his fox kwami, making sure it was wrapped properly.

"Inarii, I still got a rice cracker with me in a pocket. You must be tired, so eat this." The hurt boy smiled weakly as he opened the small bag and handed it over to his friend. Inarii ate it happily, regaining his energy again. Some parts were broken, but it didn't matter much as he was only a bit bigger than the rice cracker.

"Okay, I got my energy back! So transform as Vulpino again. You really need to go home fast and disinfect those injuries of yours."

Nathaniel nodded tiredly before he transformed back to his hero form. His body was still hurting as he was Vulpino, so he put an illusion on himself for not feeling any pain anymore and also making him invisible. Since he was already using an illusion on himself, he wouldn't create another illusion to make him fly again. Creating illusions would drain energy from his body after all, so he would rather prevent getting even more tired than he already was. He jumped down from the tree and just walked home, he didn't want to take the risk of having his transformation to wear off again at an unfortunately timing.

xxx

"Hey Nathaniel, what happened to your left hand?"

He was going to walk on the stairs on the side as always, trying to not draw any attention to himself, but it seems he got the eye from the DJ boy. He faced him with an awkward smile, hiding his left hand. He even got attention from a certain blond guy, which made things even more awkward. It was a good thing that Marinette wasn't at school yet as she was almost always late.

"I-it's nothing. I… I accidently cut my hand while… cooking." He really hoped that they wouldn't ask more, he knew it was a bad excuse as he was almost injured at almost everywhere on his body. His whole body was aching, though it hurt less than his left arm and hand. Inarii actually bugged him to go to the hospital, but he didn't want to as he thought it was just a minor injury.

"But you also got bruises on your face. What the hell happens when you cook?" Alya pointed it out as if she was inspecting him. It made him flinch and he laughed it off quite awkwardly, while slowly taking steps towards his seat. "I-I'm…really bad at cooking… I-I… I tripped a lot of times too…"

They stared at him for a while, but then just let him go to his seat. He softly sighed out of relief of being finally away from those questionable eyes. He should have stayed home, but he promised his mother to attend school every day when she was away. And he would always keep his promises, no matter what.

"Hey Nathaniel, mind if I sit next to you?"

The redhead got startled and looked at his right side, seeing the son of a great designer standing there smiling kindly at him. The only thing he could do is just stare at him surprised. After realizing that class was about to begin and the guy he admired was still standing, he got flustered and gestured Adrien that he could sit down.

"B-but why do you want to sit here? I mean… don't you want to sit next to Nino?"

Adrien sat next to him, still with that kind smile on his face. "Your left hand is injured right? I remembered you were left-handed, so I guessed you weren't able to write." He remembered the fight against Evillustrator and saw him draw multiple times with his left hand.

"I'm actually also right-handed…" He knew that Adrien was kind, just the total opposite of Chloé and that meant he was really kind. If Chloé would be a demon, Adrien would be a god or angel. He could've expected that Adrien would help him, but it still surprised him and it made him feel guilty that he was sitting next to him for nothing.

"I-I'm sorry. You've gone out your way to sit next to me… You can still go to Nino."

The artist was actually really panicking and feeling guilty, he was flinching like some scared bunny. Adrien looked at Nino then back to Nathaniel with that usual smile. "No, I want to sit next to you if you don't mind. Oh and being ambidextrous is really cool, I didn't know you were able to use both your hands equally."

"Thank you… I actually use my right hand most of the times." He smiled and become more comfortable around the model, finally able to look in his eyes. He noticed that Adrien got some bags under his eyes, he wanted to ask about it but he also didn't want to come of weird.

"You also got some cuts on your right hand. You're really fine writing?" Adrien noticed some band aids on the front of his right hand. He wanted to ask what could've happened what made Nathaniel so injured, but from the conversation before he knew that Nathaniel didn't want to talk about it.

"I'm fine with writing… It only hurts a little." He held his hands together, feeling afraid to be questioned again. How could he even explain how he got those injuries? He could just tell him he was very clumsy at the kitchen.

"I see, if you need some notes, I could give lend them to you in case your hands start to hurt too much."

Nathaniel couldn't help but stare at Adrien with dazzling eyes, he was really touched by Adrien's kindness. He wished that more people were like him and Marinette, because Marinette is also a really sweet girl. His lips turned into a heartwarming smile, thanking Adrien for wanting to help him.

When the class was beginning, it was his habit to get his sketchbook. He always drew during class, mostly when nothing important was going on and he knew this wasn't going to be anything that important. However, he quickly putted the sketchbook at the corner of his table as he saw Adrien staring at it. He could feel the heat growing on his cheeks as he was feeling quite ashamed to think about drawing when Adrien was sitting next to him.

"Can I see your drawing?" Adrien sat closer and whispered to Nathaniel, making him look back with widen eyes. Adrien saw that as a bad sign and quickly backed away.

"Sorry, if you don't like to show it. I'm cool with it. I was just a bit curious…"

Nathaniel looked at his sketchbook, remembering everything he had drawn till now. There were some quite embarrassing drawings, but he remembered he got some other drawings on his tablet. Sometimes he would make some digital art on the tablet, even though it was more meant for school.

"I can show you some of my drawings." Nathaniel whispered back, opening the photo album on his tablet. Just as he was about to show, someone busted into the classroom pointing towards Chloé.

"You will pay for this, Chloé Bourgeois! I had enough of you, so be gone!"

A man in an owl suit was spreading his arms, actually those were his wings. His wings were really big, maybe three times the size from his actual arm.

"What? What have I done?" Chloé said in disbelief, holding her hand against her chest and making an overdramatic gasp as if she never done something wrong. "You shouldn't point faults at me. Do you know who my father is?"

"YES, I KNOW! I had enough of you using your father, always threatening me so I would punish my students wrongly and have it your way! I have enough of all of you! BE GONE!"

He flapped his wings, making his feathers lose apart from his wings. The feathers flew on the force of the wind that the owl created and flew towards Chloé. She quickly ducked under the table out of fear. She wasn't fast enough as some feathers hit her arm, though it made some cuts on her clothes, it didn't cut her skin yet.

"Is that the principal?" Someone from the class asked, making the big old owl glare in the whole classroom, ending up with shooting daggers at Nino who was the one who actually asked that.

"I'm not the principal! I'm Mister Hoot!" He groaned out of annoyance and flew on the table, glaring towards every student before spreading his wings out and flapped with them. The wings created another strong wind, making everyone blow away against the wall. Luckily he was actually standing in front of the board, so no one would get blown away towards the window which would make things worse as they were on the second floor.

The force of the wind was so strong that nobody was able to move away. Nathaniel could only hope for Marinette to come and save them, she was still not in class after all. And just as he wished her to come, she actually did, as Ladybug of course. She threw her yo-yo to Mister Hoot, making the yo-yo wrap around him so he couldn't move around anymore. Everyone fell down on the floor when there wasn't any wind anymore what would make them stuck against the wall. Though only Chloé was still under the table, trembling out of fear and not understanding what she had done.

"Everyone, get out of the class now!" Ladybug screamed towards her classmates and everyone happily did what she said. They didn't want to come near the akumatized villain after all.

Adrien and Nathaniel both went to different direction from their classmates, Adrien going to the toilet and Nathaniel to the lockers.

"Hey buddy, I know you want to help them, but you're still hurt!"

"There's no time to discuss this. Ladybug is in trouble, I can't just wait for Chat Noir to save her! Inarii, transform me!" He spread his arms, closing his eyes till he could feel the mask on his face. His sleeves of his normal jacket got replaced by the sleeves of his tight suit, transforming firstly his arms red orange, just the color of a red fox and then turned his hand till a bit above his elbow into really dark brown as it was almost black. His collar changed into white fur, having the tail of his necklace hang below it. A long flute appeared into his right hand, at the same time as his fox ears and tail appeared.

As soon as he was done with his transformation, his legs were spread, having his right leg bended a bit and a stretched left leg in front of him. He held the flute under his armpit with his right elbow against his side as he was holding his left hand above his left leg, holding his hand straight in front of him.

He stood straight up, blowing on his flute to create the same illusion he used the night before. He made his body feel like there were no injuries at all, he wouldn't feel any pain till he would get greatly hurt again. He ran towards the classroom, seeing that Chat Noir was already at the scene which surprised him completely.

"What? He's already here? Does he have a Ladybug radar or something?"

Chat Noir was busy fighting against the big owl, who was waving with his wings wildly. A moment after he was slammed against the wall because of the wind, he locked eyes with Vulpino. Vulpino got a bit scared of the cat, feeling the chills as they were looking at each other for a brief moment. He was still feeling afraid of Chat Noir because he remembered that night again even though he knew it wasn't Chat Noir's fault. He wanted to apologize for not explaining about his special power, but it seemed like he got to wait. He really hoped that Chat wasn't mad at him anymore.

He blew on his flute, creating walls around the owl. The walls wouldn't take long, he knew how strong the wind force are. He should hurry and check if the kitten was alright. He run towards Chat Noir, who was sitting against the wall, groaning in pain.

"Chat Noir, can you stand?" Vulpino held his hand out, in hope he would just accept it. As he saw that Chat was just staring at him, he saw that something was off about him. There was something complex about his eyes, as if a lot of mixed feelings were inside of him.

The fox heard some creaks of the walls, making him panic a bit and also upset that the cat was still not taking his hand. "Look, Chat Noir. I know you can't trust, I understand. It was my fault for not explaining about my special power properly, I'm sorry. But we got no time for that, we got a villain to defeat!"

Chat Noir's eyes shot wide as he heard the apology. "What? Hold on! I should be the one that should ap-!"

The walls broke down, there was a scream from Mister Hoot. He circled around, while flapping with his wings, shooting his feathers everywhere in the classroom. Everything was going too fast, Vulpino and Chat Noir got no time to defend themselves.

"Don't let your guard down! There's no time for fighting or making up, just get your grip already and help me!"

Ladybug was standing in front of the guys, swinging with her yo-yo so it would become their shield. She was swinging with them so fast as possible, but some feathers were still able to hit her.

"She's right." Vulpino said, pulling Chat Noir on his feet quickly.

Chat Noir nodded, getting his staff from the ground. "We will talk after this."

"Good. Time to defeat a villain!" Ladybug smirked, ready to take the akumatized villain on with the three of them.

xxx

The three of them were really tired, but everything reverted back to normal once Ladybug threw her special object in the air and screamed "Miraculous Ladybug" as always. The wounds they got in the fight disappeared, however the wounds Vulpino had before were still on his body. Good thing he was wearing a suit, so they wouldn't see the cuts and bruises. And those bruises on his face were still invisible because of his illusion, though the illusion would wear out soon.

"Vulpino, we have to talk." Chat Noir said as he was standing in front of Vulpino, looking very serious. Adrien had been thinking a lot about that night and he reconsidered his actions. He regretted it, he went too far. It was unlike him to take such action without hearing an explanation first.

"Chat, wait. You used Cataclysms. I'm not going away, you should detransform first. I will wait for you on the roof." He walked to the window, ready to jump from it to the roof. But before he jumped up, he looked at Ladybug seriously.

"You could also come on the roof after you detransform. But I think it would be better for you to head home, Ladybug. You need your rest. I will explain everything to you, but please, you should take care of your health first."

He jumped up, disappearing out of both of their sight. Chat Noir just sighed and mumbled that he would detransform. Ladybug was still staring at the window Vulpino used to jump up. She wanted to hear the explanation right away, but maybe she didn't need it. She knew that he was being sincere, he really cared about her.

xxx

"So what do you want to talk about, Chat Noir?" Vulpino said, hearing the footsteps coming from behind. He was just sitting on the roof, looking forward and feeling the wind blowing through his hair. He turned around, seeing the kitty sit next to him.

"I'm sorry."

Vulpino just stared at the black kitty, not really getting what he just said. It was like those words were blown away by the wind before they entered his ears. "What?"

"I said I'm sorry. I should've been the one apologizing. I… I shouldn't have grabbed you by the collar and slam you against that lantern. I should have acted calmly, but I didn't. I should have let you explain. I- "

"Stop. Chat, I get it. We were both at fault alright? I get why you acted that way. I'm a fox. The whole Volpina incident happened not long ago. I bet something happened then what made you like this. Besides… you love Ladybug, so do I. I guess you were also jealous."

Chat Noir was just staring blankly at the fox guy next to him. Once he heard the confession, his mouth was constantly opening and closing like some fish. Like he wanted to say something, but then he didn't know what to say anymore.

"You… You what?" Is all he could say after few minutes passed. He was still staring at Vulpino with disbelief.

"I love her. I thought that was pretty obvious?" Vulpino didn't really get why the kitten made such a fuss about it. Even he knew that he was being quite obvious with his feelings for Ladybug as Vulpino. As Nathaniel he didn't show much of his feelings, he mostly expressed his feelings in his drawings. But as Vulpino, he could just express himself however he wanted.

Chat Noir was standing up, then he walked around in a circle. "I… I know it was pretty obvious. But for you to say it so easily, that was still a surprise. And you know I love her too! Don't you think you should at least try to be careful showing your love for her when you're around me? I mean, just like you said I… I… was j-jealous… I was afraid you would actually just steal her away from me. She always regretted **me** , but somehow she just accepts **you**!"

"You're a real idiot aren't you?" Vulpino also stood up and sighed quite disappointed. He was crossing his arms and got a smug smile on his face.

" **Excuse me**?" Chat stopped, facing the fox irritated. He told Vulpino his honest feelings, but what he got in return was that smug look on his face.

"You're an idiot. Do you really think she would accept me on the same level as you? You've been partners for a long time. You two share a bond I would… never be able to break. I'm just her partner, nothing more… Well, maybe it would become more if you just give up. I would gladly take her hand."

"No way! As if I would give up!"

"Neither will I. I love her as much as you do. However, will you be brave enough to even confess your feelings to her seriously instead of just flirting around? I don't think so. You are afraid she would regret you. Your flirts got regretted so many times after all."

Chat Noir was clenching his hands into a fist, trying to hold back his anger and not attack the fox again. "I don't always flirt with her. I know my limits! And what do **you** even know about **my** feelings?!"

"I know. And because I know how you feel, I don't want to give up my feelings for her! Just like you, she's everything to me! She's the sparkle light in my life. I don't know how your civil life is, but mine was really **lonely**. Before I become a hero, I had no one! No friends, family mostly out house for business, no one who even noticed me. But she did. She noticed me. She came to me and smiled at me, complimented me, let me see some joy in life again. She was the star so far out of reach for me. But now. Now she is my partner. Now we are standing on the same ground. And I will not let this chance slip! Chat, I always admired you. Your braveness, your selfless, kindness. I know you are a caring person. I… I know you would be great together with Ladybug. But I'm sorry."

He was shaking his head, before looking serious at Chat Noir again. "I love her. I will confess to her. I will try my best to win her heart over. I decided to believe in myself, I decided that I'm also worthy to be with her. From now on, I'm not a nobody anymore, I'm **someone**."


	6. Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I want to thank you guys again for those lovely comments. Thank you ;w; I hope you would enjoy this chapter too~!

Chat Noir was staring speechless at Vulpino after hearing what the fox just told him. He wasn't sure how to feel about it, which made him feel uneasy at first. He took a deep breath to think over everything calmly. After he calmed down and sorted his feelings out, he looked straight into Vulpino's eyes.

"I'm also your partner."

"What?" Vulpino wasn't sure what he just heard. He was sure he was declaring his love for Ladybug, which he thought would make Chat Noir not see him as partner anymore. He was even prepared for a fight, but it didn't seem like the feline hero was in for one.

Chat took a step closer to Vulpino, putting his hand on his shoulder while smiling at him. "I'm also your friend, Vulpino."

Vulpino was the one now staring speechless at Chat Noir. He didn't get why Chat wanted to be friends with him, he thought that the black cat hated him. But no, he even smiled at him like nothing happened, as if he was ignoring his whole declaration of love for Ladybug. Was it just that he purposely ignored it or that he just pitied him now. Pity is the least he wanted from people, mostly from his rival. He was shaking his head out of disbelief, not understanding the situation.

"Why? Don't you hate me? Or do you just pity me now you know about my civil life?"

"I don't pity you. I also don't hate you. Actually… I never really hated you. I was just jealous and… I was just being childish, not wanting to accept you... But now that I understand you more, I don't see any reasons why we can't be friends. I was in a similar situation as you before I become a hero. I was also very lonely. But now not anymore. I have Ladybug, friends in my civil life and my kwami. And I'm sure you would make a lot of friends too. Well… You have me now."

"Why?" Vulpino asked again, not knowing anything else to say. He was really confused, taken aback by Chat's friendliness. He knew Chat was kind, but to even consider him as friend was something he never thought of. Not after he made it obvious that he loves Ladybug and irritated the cat.

"Well… You did say that Ladybug and I look great together~ And you don't seem to hate me, I'm even flattered how you actually think of me." He grinned as he said that, thinking mostly about that Vulpino said that Ladybug and he would look great together.

"Did you **really** listen to what I just said? I love Ladybug too, I'm your ri-"

"I know. Being friends doesn't mean I will give up on her. I will still be your love rival, but love rivals can be buddies too."

Vulpino sighed, suddenly feeling tired. "Are you… an idiot? Or just simple minded? I can't believe you want to be friends with me so easily. I was expecting some more fights between us."

Chat Noir's cat ears dropped down and he looked a little bit upset about that comment. "You don't want to be friends?"

"N-no, no! I don't mind to be friends! In fact, I'm actually happy to be friends with you! I've always admired you so it's just unbelievable. Also ehm…" He got even more flustered than he wanted to be, not able to talk properly and be calm about this situation. It reminded him how he would usually act in his civil form and he didn't like that. He got to keep his act together and calm down.

Once Chat saw how flustered Vulpino got, he couldn't hold back his laugh. He laughed so hard that his stomach was even hurting. Seeing how surprised the fox hero looked at his suddenly burst of laughter made him laugh even more. Once he saw that Vulpino looked quite offended, Chat tried to stop laughing, taking deep breaths. He took one deep breath and smiled again to the annoyed fox. "Sorry, sorry. Don't get the wrong idea. I really want to be your friend. But to see you so flustered is so funny, no maybe that's not the right word. Hmm, maybe…cute?"

He was thinking about another word, but seeing the cheeks of Vulpino turn in the same red as his hair made him want to tease his new friend. "Hm? What, getting all embarrassed when I called you cute~?"

Vulpino was not happy with that remark, not at all. Firstly, he was just taken aback again, but now he was just even more annoyed. "Ugh shut up, kitty. I'm a guy, I don't want to be called **cute**. You also don't want to be called cute, right?"

"Well, if milady will call me that. I would be more than happy~ You won't?" He smiled, more like grinned like some happy-go-lucky fool who is head over heels in love. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, yeah, I would be happy too. However, you're not Ladybug. So I would rather not to be called cute, understood?"

Chat laughed again and leaned on Vulpino's shoulder. "Sure, but don't call me 'kitty' then. Only milady is allowed to call me that. If you do keep calling me 'kitty', I will call you **shorty**."

Vulpino hated people making fun of his height. He knew he was short compared to the average guys around his age, but he didn't want to hear it from anyone. He got so annoyed that he pushed Chat Noir away, though it wasn't that hard. Chat was only standing some inches away now. "I'm not short!"

Chat laughed even more and put his hand above Vulpino's head and his other hand above his head. "Hmm, quite a difference, don't you think?"

"Okay, enough! I'm going home." Vulpino was walking towards the edge of the rooftop so he would be able to jump down. He had enough of the kitty teasing him. He was really happy to have a friend, but if Chat would always act that way he didn't even need him to be his friend.

"Hey, Vulpino."

Vulpino turned annoyed around, glaring at the kitty. "What?!" He screamed, showing how done he was with his feline friend.

"We won't have patrol tonight, so see you tomorrow. Also… Thank you for telling me about your civil life. I'm glad we're able to be friends now." He smiled sincere, waving the fox goodbye before he left.

Vulpino just stared at the feline hero who slowly got out of his sight. He let out a sigh, but it wasn't a disappointed one. He was glad, it even made his lips curl upwards. "Maybe being friends with that kitty is not so bad."

xxx

After he transformed back, he went back to his classroom right away to get his sketchbook. His sketchbook was really important after all. He knew when Ladybug used her 'Miraculous Ladybug' everything would be repaired, so he didn't have to worry being damaged during the attack.

He was glad that no one was in the classroom anymore, even Chloé was gone. Well of course she must have gone home after everything was safe again. Not that he honestly cared about that spoiled girl, sometimes he even wished her to just be dead. After all she was the problem for the most Akuma attacks and today was no exception.

" _Okay, maybe that's going too far. Not that she would even become good…"_

He sighed just thinking about her and decided to think about something else. He hummed when he thought about Chat Noir, his new friend. It was actually the first time that someone really wanted to be friends with him and kind of made it official. Nathaniel was never sure when he was really friends with someone without the other person saying it clearly to him. He knew he was Ladybug's partner, but if she would also consider him as friend. He wasn't sure, but that didn't matter much anyway. He didn't want to get friendzoned, rather than that, he wanted to be her boyfriend.

Because no one was in the classroom, Inarii poked out of his pocket while eating a piece of rice cracker. "Good for you, buddy. You have now a new friend~!"

Nathaniel softly petted the small head of his kwami, smiling happily at him. "Yeah, I have."

xxx

"Hey Plagg, someone told me that I and Ladybug looks great together~ See, I'm not the only one who thinks that." Adrien laughed as he was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey lover boy, do remember that he might take her away from you. Anyway, where's the cheese? I'm hungry!" Plagg was flying around the room, expecting some cheese right away.

Adrien just sighed and called Nathalie if she could bring some Camembert. "Can't you think of something else than that stinky cheese?"

"Hey! You have your love for Ladybug. I have my love for cheese. Cheese would never betray me."

"… Anyway Plagg, what do you actually think about Vulpino?"

"I like him. Mostly when you two fight, it's always fun to watch. He's not a bad guy, maybe even a better flirter than you." He snickered at that, which made Adrien throw his pillow to his cat kwami.

"I'm not **that** bad." He pouted as he sat straight up. He decided to just check the Ladyblog so he could just ignore his kwami. He saw that there was a new video, must be of today's fight. He clicked on the video to watch it, mostly he actually just wanted to watch Ladybug. But this time he was also quite curious what Alya might say about the new hero.

Alya was telling her viewers that she met the rumored new hero of Paris. She was the first one who was able to catch him on video and told everyone that it was indeed a fox hero. There were some rumors going on that there was some new hero in town since that fire incident. And of course Alya heard of the rumors too, so she would definitely try to record him on her video. She might even try to get an interview from him. Mostly also because the people didn't know much about that fox hero, not even his hero name. Some called him Volpina because of the Volpina incident, others just called him Fire Fox because of his hair, but no one was really sure how to call him. No one aside from the two other heroes. Adrien got the urge to actually post it on the internet anonymously that his name was 'Vulpino', but maybe Vulpino himself wanted to tell everyone his name. He didn't want to steal his spotlight after all.

xxx

Nathaniel decided to take another sketchbook with him to school, because he didn't feel like drawing on his tablet and in case Adrien would sit next to him again, he could show those drawings. He had been doodling Chat Noir lately, with always made him smile. He was happy to be able to be friends with him even if they didn't know about their true identity. But that was no problem, after all, he could be his real self as Vulpino. As Vulpino he didn't need to be so reserved as he was now, he didn't need to make himself smaller because he was weak. He was strong as Vulpino and that would make his confidence grow.

"Can I sit next to you again?"

Nathaniel looked next to him, looking at Adrien smiling so kindly at him like usual. He felt quite bad for Nino who also had to sit alone the day before. "H-how about Nino? Is… Is he alright with it? I mean, I don't mind you sitting here. But I also don't want Nino to sit alone because of me. You don't have to mind me you know."

"Nah, he doesn't mind. Alya is going to sit next to him today and Lila will sit next to Marinette when she's here." He said as he sat down next to the tomato boy.

Chloé noticed that Adrien was sitting in the back again, but this time she could go to him because the class wasn't starting yet. She walked the upstairs, glaring at Nathaniel. "And what do you think you're doing? What have you done to Adrien which made him sit next to you? Because of you I don't sit close to my Adrikins!"

Nathaniel hated Chloé, he wanted to stand up and yell in her face. However, he didn't have any confidence to do so. Instead, he was just making himself smaller, trying to hide. He didn't want to apologize, so he didn't say anything. Instead, Adrien stood up and smiled a bit awkwardly at Chloé.

"Chloé, I'm sitting here because I want to. The class is about to begin, so maybe it's better to go back to your seat."

"Fine, but only for now." She turned around, but was still glaring at the redhead artist. She didn't like it if things won't go the way she wanted. She would deal with that silent artist later. She grinned when she thought about some plans.

"Why… are you actually being so nice to Chloé?" Nathaniel knew Adrien was kind, he also knew that Chloé was his childhood friend. But to think that he was able to stay kind to that kind of girl made him wonder how he could even endure it. He saw many times how uncomfortable Adrien looked whenever she was being clingy, but he was still being nice to her. Sometimes he did scold her, but he was never really mad.

"I'm… just nice to everyone? I'm friends with her and she's mostly nice to me, so I'm being nice to her too. Though she should be nice to others too… It's a bit complicated I guess." Too be honest he just wanted to be left alone by her. He didn't like her being clingy to him or see his friends suffer whenever she bullies them. He tried to scold her and tell her those weren't the right thing to do, but she didn't listen so he just gave up when he knew she was way too stubborn. Sometimes he was just done with her, so it was actually nice to sit in the back. He wouldn't be able to feel her eyes on him that way after all.

"I see…" Just as Nathaniel thought, Adrien was just nice to everyone. He could consider everyone as friend and that was actually something really amazing about him.

"Hey, can I see your drawings? I wasn't able to do that yesterday." Adrien asked as he tried to peek a little in the sketchbook. He was really curious what the artist had been drawing before he came up.

"Ah, yes." Nathaniel shoved the sketchbook more to the right side where Adrien was sitting. Adrien looked at the sketchbook, seeing the doodles of Chat Noir. He was actually really flattered to see those.

"Hm, you really like Chat Noir don't you? You're his fan?"

Nathaniel let out a small chuckle when Adrien was asking that. He waved with his hand as gesture that he was denying it. "I'm not really a **fan** of Chat Noir. Well, at least I don't consider myself as one. I just… think he's pretty amazing. But Ladybug is the one I really love." He turned the other page and showed a drawing of Ladybug. He saw Adrien staring at him for a while and he thought back about what he said. He turned bright red as he actually said in front of someone else than Chat Noir that he loved Ladybug. "I-I mean, I really admire her. She's amazing after all."

Adrien chuckled and nodded, looking dreamy at the drawing of Ladybug. "Yeah… She's amazing. She's loved by almost everyone."

Nathaniel thought that those dreamy eyes seemed quite similar, but he wasn't really sure where he saw them before. Maybe Adrien was just some hardcore fan of Ladybug, because he really seemed to admire her **a lot**. _"I bet he will freak out if he knew that Ladybug has been sitting behind him since the beginning of this school year."_

He chuckled at the thought of that, even though he wasn't sure if Adrien would really freak out. At least he did freak out of home for a little bit. Okay, it wasn't a little bit, he freaked out a lot, feeling stupid not realizing it sooner. He was deeply in love with Marinette after all. He had known her for quite some time. Even though there were some parts he didn't like, like how she accused him for thief. But she must've had regretted that and everything would become a mess because of Chloé.

"Hey Nath, can you draw something for me?"

Nathaniel was quite surprised that Adrien was being quite casual with him. Maybe they were already friends? Even though Adrien might see everyone as a friend, so that wasn't really special. Still, it was special to him and because it was special to him, he would of course draw something for Adrien. It was actually a great honor that someone wanted to have him draw something.

"Sure, what do you want me to draw for you?"

Adrien looked quite shy suddenly, rubbing the back of his neck. Nathaniel wondered what kind of request Adrien would make. "W-well, can you maybe draw something between Ladybug and Chat Noir? Something romantic? For example, holding hands or a hug…?" He actually wanted to suggest a kiss too, but he was too embarrassed to ask about that.

Nathaniel was surprised how innocently Adrien acted, already blushing just for asking a drawing where Ladybug and Chat Noir, not even himself, but Chat Noir was holding hands with Ladybug or hugging her. He just shrugged it off, like that was just Adrien's personality to be so innocent about it that he wanted to surprise him with his drawing.

"It's just a quick sketch, b-but I hope you like it." He whispered to Adrien, showing his drawing and hoping the teacher won't see it. It was a kiss scene between Chat Noir and Ladybug, even though he didn't really want to draw his rival with his angel like this, he couldn't refuse Adrien's request and he wanted to surprise him after all. He saw that Adrien was turning red and smiled happily, even his eyes were shining. To see someone so happy with his drawing, it made him feel glad that it drew it.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Nath! This is so beautiful! I can't believe this is just a quick sketch. You're really talented!" Adrien tried to be as quiet as possible, however some classmates were looking at his direction. Luckily not the teacher, seeming she didn't notice it at all.

"N-no, I'm not that talented." He laughed awkwardly, feeling really flattered to hear that.

"You are. At times like these you don't need to deny it. Just accept the compliment and say 'thanks', because you really **do** deserve those compliments."

Nathaniel was blushing slightly as he nodded his head. Adrien was right about that, he should also feel more confidence about himself. He smiled to Adrien and thanked him for the compliment. They were silently laughing, trying not to get caught by the teacher. It was actually a good think they sit in the back. If Adrien was still sitting in the front and laughed, he would be totally busted.

xxx

It was lunch break and Nathaniel decided to head over the park where he usually sit to eat his lunch. Sometimes when he didn't have much to eat or didn't feel like eating, he would just head to the library to draw or sleep.

"Hey Nath, want to eat with me and Nino?"

"Eh?" Nath didn't think Adrien would even invite him for lunch. He was almost walking through the door to go to the park, so he would talk with Inarii for a while. But to think that Adrien Agreste was inviting him to eat with Nino. Did that actually mean that they were friends now? He wasn't sure, but he sure was glad that he became a hero. Since he became a hero, he was able to become friends with Chat Noir and be the partner of Ladybug. Now he even got the chance to be friends, maybe good friends with Adrien and Nino.

"Y-yes, I would love to!" He smiled happily, feeling really glad that he was able to spend his time with others too. He was always eating alone, not that it really bothered him. He got used to it and it was always peaceful like that. But he's still a teenage boy, he wanted to have some fun with others too. However, it was quite too late for him to interact with others, since they all already got besties. He was already really awkward to begin with, so everyone already having a best friend didn't help at all.

"Oh no you don't. You're coming with me, Nathaniel." Chloé stood in front of him at the door opening with her arms crossed and Sabrina stood next to her as always.

"Chloé, Nathaniel is going with us. So can't just leave him alone?"

Adrien tried to defend or protect the redhead, not sure what Chloé had in mind but he was sure it was up to no good. However, Nathaniel didn't want to run away anymore. He was a hero after all. If he could take akumatized villains on, he could also take Chloé on. Even though some villains might be better than Chloé. He took a deep breath and took a step forward.

"It's alright Adrien, I will go with her. I will catch up with you later." He turned around to smile at Adrien and then turned back to Chloé.

Chloé just smirked mischievously, happy that she got what she wanted. She was even happy that the boy himself would follow her without any struggle, it really made her day. She turned around, ready to walk to some place where not many people are. "Follow me."


	7. Being More Confident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm so sorry for the late update! I was kinda hooked up with Pokemon Go. Who of you readers also play it? xD And which team are you~? x3 I'm team blue, Mystic! :D Also, I hope you would enjoy reading this chapter~
> 
> Also I want to say that this fic won't end so quickly xD Actually, this is just the beginning >:3

Nathaniel didn’t know how it happened, but he ended up standing against the wall with Chloé in front of him. She had her arms crossed and looked very displeased.

“I don’t want to waste much of my precious time on you, so I will keep it short. Stay away from my Adrien.”

Nathaniel already knew how spoiled Chloé was, but he didn’t thought she would be that obsessive about Adrien. Though he could’ve saw that coming, because it was Chloé who he was talking about. Nothing could surprise him anymore about how much of a bully she was.

“And what if I say no? Going to run to daddy and get me suspended?” He sighed and crossed his arms. He glared at her, after all, he really hate her. He had enough of her bullying. He had enough of her.

“Y-you! How dare you talk to me like that! Do you know who my father is?! I will indeed get you suspended and you would regret talking to me in such a tone!” Chloé was clenching her fists, not pleased at all hearing someone lower than her talk to her like that. It reminded her of Marinette, the worst girl ever who always talked back to her.

“And? What reason would you give to your father this time? **_Daddy, Nathaniel is being so mean to me. He refused to do as I say when I asked him to stay away from Adrien who isn’t even my boyfriend._** Heh, as if this would stop me from hanging out with Adrien. Why can’t I be friends with him? Is it only because he won’t sit close to you anymore? Oh no, **how** **horrible** that would be.”

He pretended to be overdramatic like Chloé would mostly be and then rolled his eyes afterwards when he was being sarcastic. He was so done with Chloé. Someone should actually teach her to become a better person, not that it would really happen though. It would only take a miracle to make **her** a good person.

“H-how dare you! I’m Adrien’s childhood friend, I’m his first friend and I will be his girlfriend! After all, we are really close with each other. Unlike you, I’m loved by a lot of people. People don’t even see you or even care about you. You’re always just drawing in the back, not even wanting some attention. You would only bring Adrien down with your pitiful self. Just don’t take advantage of Adrien’s kindness, he’s like that to **everyone**. Even with Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Ugh, I don’t get why he would hang out with someone like **her**.”

She looked disgusted even mentioning her name, as if it would give her a virus whenever she says her name aloud. She knew that the only person who wasn’t that fond of her was Marinette, but most girls like Marinette would just be jealous of a perfect girl like herself.

“Well, unlike you, Marinette is someone who is really loved by everyone, aside from you then. She’s the kindest girl ever, something you should learn from her. She’s totally the opposite of a spoiled ‘princess’ like you. Who was the girl who became class representative again? Oh right, the whole class voted for Marinette, not **you**. You’re a coward who always use your father’s power and not even your own. Anyway, I think we’re done talking now. I don’t want to waste your precious time, **princess**.”

Never had Chloé felt that angry before. Not only did Nathaniel refuse to do what she told him to, he even complimented the girl she disliked and insulted her instead. As Nathaniel walked away, she was still standing at the same place, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth. She grabbed her phone, ready to call her father, but then she just stared at her screen.

“Chloé? Are you alright?”

Sabrina carefully approached Chloé, who was staring at her phone as if she was frozen. Sabrina had been quiet for the whole time. She didn’t know what to do when she saw Chloé so angry, even her whole face was red out of fury. She wanted to calm her friend down, maybe complimenting her would actually work.

“Shut up Sabrina. I’m going home, tell the teacher I feel ill. I don’t want to see **his** face today.”

She dialed the phone number of her driver, calling him to pick her up. She didn’t even care to tell her father that she would skip school, he was busy anyways. Not like he would really check up on her, even thinking about her father now pissed her off.

xxx

As Nathaniel walked towards the entrance of the school, he saw that Nino and Adrien were waiting for him. He hurriedly run towards them, feeling happy that they even waited for him.

“Hey, Nath. You’re back sooner than I thought. You also seem to be… okay? Chloé went easy on you?”

Nino was looking at him from head to toe, mostly also checking if the redhead was mentally fine. He heard about the incident of him turning into an Akumatized villain and went after Chloé. Not that he could blame him, a lot of people wanted to get revenge on Chloé.

“I’m totally fine, Nino. I’m not scared of Chloé and she won’t be able to hurt me anymore.” He smiled slightly, actually wanting to drop the subject. He didn’t feel like talking about Chloé, though he was pretty proud of himself to be able to talk back to her.

“I’m relieved to hear that. Since you’re back, let’s eat some lunch.” Adrien smiled kindly and walked towards the park to eat at the bench. The park was really close by after all, so they could just eat there.

Adrien was eating some croissants he bought from Marinette’s bakery a while ago and Nino was just eating some sandwiches. Nathaniel didn’t feel like eating much, so he just ate some cherry tomatoes.

“Bro, is that really your whole lunch?” Nino was surprised to see a small plastic cup filled with like ten cherry tomatoes. He noticed that Nathaniel was actually pretty thin, he was not too thin, but it was pretty close to that.

Nathaniel felt the stare of both Adrien and Nino on him. He panicked slightly, waving his hands in front of him. “D-don’t worry about it! I’m eating more at home. It’s just that those tomatoes are more filling than you think, so they are enough for lunch.”

He laughed awkwardly and wanted to change the subject quickly, because it mostly became uncomfortable for him. He looked at Nino and somehow remembered again that he and Alya were dating.

“So… Nino. How are you and Alya doing? I-if I may ask.”

“Hm? Well, we’re mostly just hanging out together. Just usual things like when we were also friends, though I’m more what you can say, going on dates with her. Though I wish she wouldn’t run off our date whenever she hears about a villain appearing somewhere. I mean, I know she likes Ladybug a lot and such, but I always worry about her safety. But yeah, we mostly make up afterwards and such, so everything is cool.”

“Must be quite though when you know how Alya is when it comes to Ladybug.” Adrien felt a little guilty about ruining his best friend’s date whenever there was a villain. Though he made sure that no one would get hurt, mostly he and Ladybug made sure to protect Alya too. She always tried to get as close as possible to them after all.

“Yeah, oh, but now all she could talk about is that fox hero. She still doesn’t know his name, so she’s really curious about it. It also seems like not many people know about him, nor his hero name. There were some rumors that he was at a fire accident and that he was the one putting people on fire, though they seemed to be totally fine afterwards, so maybe that was his power. At least, Alya had been telling me a lot of theories about him. She keep telling me she would find him and make sure to be the first one having an interview with him.”

Nathaniel and Adrien both gulped silently. They knew about Vulpino, heck, Nathaniel was the one Nino had been talking about now. Nath felt pretty stupid to not even mention his hero name, but he wasn’t really up to for an interview. He was never interviewed before, also suddenly gaining a lot of attention was not something he was used too. So he didn’t want to receive a lot of attention, at least not when he was still a newbie.

“What do you actually think about the new fox hero?” Nathaniel couldn’t help but ask that, but it was actually quite a stupid question. After all, they didn’t know much about Vulpino, not even his name. He also only appeared when his classmates run out of the classroom, though he did saw Alya recording everything from a distance. He even checked the Ladyblog this morning and saw he was in one of her videos. She was even writing a whole theory about Vulpino, about his powers and him being a real hero unlike Volpina. He wondered if he should actually give Alya an interview, at least then, people would know a bit more about him. He would also feel a bit more at ease when Alya was the one interviewing him instead of some stranger.

“Hmmm, I’m not sure about it. He looks pretty cool and he could create some cool illusions, at least, I think those are illusions.” Nino thought deeply about the theory Alya told him and what he saw on the video. The things the fox hero created looked so real, that he wasn’t sure if those were really illusions.

“Well, I think he’s pretty cool too. He wanted to help out Chat Noir even when things weren’t going smoothly between them… I mean, he was trying to protect both Chat Noir and Ladybug when they fought the Akumatized villain. He made sure to back them up and support them any way possible. He seems like someone who we could trust as new hero.” Adrien wondered if he might not have said too much about him. He also saw the video and it was also shown in the fight how supportive Vulpino was, but maybe he sounded too suspicious.

Nathaniel was actually touched by Adrien’s words. He was also happy that both of them think of him, or the guy with the mask was pretty cool. He hoped that he could also be his cool self in his civilian form. Though he was already happy to see Nino and Adrien as his friends, even though they didn’t really stated it. But they were the kind who would easily see people as their friends and that’s a really great quality of them.

“Oh btw, Nathaniel, do you still like Marinette?”

Nathaniel was looked speechless at Nino, blushing till his ears as he processed what Nino asked him. He didn’t know what to do, so he was playing with his hands while looking at them. He looked up to Nino, but then down again as soon as he wanted to say something. It was so sudden that it overwhelmed him, he was too flustered to even say a word.

“Nino. Wasn’t that a bit too blunt?”

“Haha, sorry. It’s just something that suddenly popped in my head and I just wanted to know. But hey, I also had a crush on Marinette remember? I know how he feels.”

“Huh, really?!” Nathaniel forgot all about his own feelings for Marinette for a while. He didn’t thought Nino had a crush on her too. Well, it wasn’t that surprising, Marinette was an amazing sweet girl after all. He was actually glad that Nino didn’t have any feelings for Marinette anymore. He didn’t want to have another rival, having Chat Noir as love rival was already enough.

“Yeah, it was a pretty long time ago. But no worries about it, I only see her as a friend now. But anyways, you still like Marinette?” He actually hoped that Nathaniel didn’t like her anymore. After all, he knew who Marinette loves and he would definitely bring her and Adrien together, no matter what. After all, they suit each other a lot.

“I…I still like Marinette.” Nathaniel was mumbling it, but it was loud enough for both of them to hear it.

Nino felt guilty asking about it, but now he got to tell Alya how they would plan to hook Adrien and Marinette together when Nathaniel still got feelings for Marinette. He didn’t want to break his new friend’s heart and make Adrien feel guilty about dating Marinette. But it might be better for Nathaniel to move on, because Marinette already had feelings for someone else. It would actually be better if Marinette would tell him that, instead of him and most of all in front of Adrien.

“Well… how about confessing to her?” Nino smiled nonchalantly, he tried to pretend he didn’t know anything about Marinette’s feelings or that it was a high possibility that Nath would get rejected. But at least now he got friends who would comfort him and he could move on that way if he knew she already had someone in her heart.

“I-I can’t do that! I mean… I want to, but I’m not sure if I’m able to do it” Though he could confess to her as Vulpino. Maybe he should do that, he didn’t want to play games after all. He wanted to make it clear to Marinette or Ladybug that he loved her, the girl with and without the mask.

“Well… I can try to confess to her though.” Maybe he would just confess to her tonight. The sooner the better. If she would reject him, he wouldn’t just give up easily and at least then she would really know about his feelings. He didn’t want to just flirt with her, he want her to take him and his feelings seriously. Maybe he could ask for Chat to do him a favor and leave him and Ladybug alone for a while. But he was still his love rival, maybe he wouldn’t accept his favor. The only way to find that out would be by asking him tonight.

xxx

Vulpino was wandering around the rooftop of the school building, just waiting for either Ladybug or Chat Noir to appear. If Ladybug would appear first, he would ask her to talk with him alone for a while at another place so Chat wouldn’t hear it. But if Chat would appear, then the only thing he could do was asking him for a favor. He still hoped that Ladybug would appear first though.

As he waited patiently, he felt that someone was walking behind him. But by the way that person walked, he already knew who it was. He turned around and smiled a bit awkwardly.

“Hey Chat… Ehm… Can I talk with you about something serious?”

Chat Noir just nodded and sat down next to Vulpino. “Well, yesterday we already had a serious talk. But I bet another one won’t hurt.” He laughed slightly, trying to lift up the mood. He noticed that it actually worked as Vulpino seemed less tense.

“Haha, yeah. I actually want to talk about more… well, fun things with you. Like, I actually made new friends now and I talked back to someone who always seemed like she was above others. So that was pretty exciting.” He laughed when he remembered how he talked to Chloé, he even surprised himself that he went as far to imitate the drama queen.

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad it works out well for you now, Vulpino. But you could always tell me about it later. I’m all ears now. So what did you wanted to talk about with me?”

“You could really be serious sometimes, huh. It always surprise me to see you like that.” Vulpino looked slightly surprised to hear that Chat already wanted to go to the point. He sounded so serious that he didn’t even know that he was actually offending Chat.

“Hey, I can be very serious if I want to you know.” Chat Noir looked quite offended, but he wasn’t really hurt by it. “So tell me. I won’t let you get away by changing the subject.”

“Well, you got me. What… I wanted to talk about is actually. Well, I plan to confess to Ladybug today.” Vulpino didn’t expect that he would be that honest. He planned to just ask Chat Noir to leave him and Ladybug alone, because he wanted to discuss something serious to her. But what he totally didn’t plan to tell the kitty was him confessing to Ladybug.

“…” Chat Noir had gone quiet. He was really surprised to hear that Vulpino already wanted to confess to Ladybug. It wasn’t like Vulpino knew her a long time and if he did, Ladybug didn’t know much about him. But he saw how serious this was for Vulpino and just sighed. “Okay, I get it. So you want me to leave you guys alone for a while? Okay, but just this once. I’m doing this for you as a friend and not as a love rival now. I honestly don’t want you two to date each other, but… I also don’t want you to be sad. I will comfort you or… well, be happy for you however it would end.”

“Wow, really?” This was the least he expected from Chat. He thought that maybe Chat Noir would stop him from confessing to her. He was afraid of her leaving him after all, so he didn’t expected any support. He also knew that Chat wouldn’t be that happy for him if he would be really dating Ladybug, after all, he really loved her.

Vulpino was really moved, he couldn’t believe that Chat would be such a great friend to him even though he was his love rival. He couldn’t help but hug him. “Thanks, Chat.”

Chat only laughed slightly and hugged his foxy friend back. He only pushed Vulpino gently back when he saw Ladybug on the roof. “Well then, I guess good luck, Vulpino. Call me when you’re done.” He smiled and left the rooftop, jumping to another place.

“Where is Chat going? Aren’t we going to patrol today?” Ladybug looked questionable at Chat Noir who was slowly getting out of her sight. She wondered what that hug was about and the sudden leave. Maybe something was going on with Chat’s home or something.

“Actually… He left us alone because I wanted to tell you something important.” He couldn’t go back now. He must tell her his feelings, it was now or never. He was prepared for any answer she would give. He was also prepared to not give up. He would accept whatever fate would decide for him.

“Ladybug, I love you.”

 


	8. Love Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm really sorry for not updating for so long I'm actually thinking about writing an AU where Nathaniel would end up with Adrien for those who ship them together. It's also mostly because some people from tumblr want to see that xD So if you lovely readers want to read that AU, please let me know so I would also post it here :3 For now, enjoy the story~

Ladybug just casually landed on the roof, walking towards Vulpino. She actually wondered where Chat Noir went as she saw him from afar jumping away. She sighed as she thought they might have fought again with each other. Just when she wanted talk to Vulpino about not fighting with Chat, he confessed to her. It was so sudden that she just stood frozen.

As the silence was too much for Vulpino, he repeated his confession again. Maybe Ladybug didn’t hear him clearly. He cleared his throat and decided to say it one more time. He took a step closer to Ladybug and looked confident and serious at her.

“Ladybug, I love you.”

It was then that Ladybug snapped back to reality. She blushed furiously, feeling nervous all of sudden. It was actually the first time that someone confessed to her like this after all. She still remembered Nathaniel asking her to celebrate his birthday with her, but maybe he wasn’t having any special feelings for her. At that time she didn’t really want to think about it, because of course he was akumatized. That was also not really a confession, so that didn’t count.

This time someone really and clearly confessed to her. However, it broke her heart to know it was actually Ladybug who was being loved once again. She knew that people loved or admired Ladybug, but she was different than the girl behind the mask. This also didn’t count as confession. Vulpino didn’t knew the real her.

“Vulpino…” She wanted to look at him in the eyes, but she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t reject him while looking at his eyes. She didn’t want him to see she was feeling down. She looked down as she hold her elbow with her right hand.

“I’m… flattered. I really am. I’m happy you feel that way about me… But you don’t know the **real** me. I’m sure if you knew her, your feelings won’t be the same. You would be disappointed…”

Somehow she couldn’t just reject him by saying she was already in love with someone. It was like she wanted to talk about her insecurities about her civilian self. In some way, she felt like she could trust Vulpino. She felt like whenever she talked with Vulpino, she might reveal too much. She didn’t know if that was because he seemed like a good listener and looked like someone you could share anything with. What was actually really dangerous for her. After all, she didn’t want to tell anything about her civilian life when she was a hero. She didn’t want to give hints, she didn’t want to endanger her partners, friends or family by letting them find out her identity. Even though she told herself that many times, she slipped her inner thoughts to Vulpino.

Before Vulpino could think, he gently pushed Ladybug’s chin up, so she would look at him in the eyes.

“Ladybug, look at me. I’m serious about my feelings for you. I know your heroic side, I know your civilian side. I know you’re this talented fashion designer, I know you could get clumsy sometimes. I know you are selfless. I know you care about your friends, family, Paris. **I know you**. I’ve watched you from afar many times, admiring you. I’ve always dreamed to be standing on the same ground as you. Now I am. Now I feel confident enough to let you know I love you. And I really do. You are you, whatever you wear a mask or not. And I love you for being just you. You were the first person who came to me, who noticed me when I was feeling down and alone. You saved me from the overwhelming darkness inside of me. You saved me. That fact doesn’t change. My feelings for you would never change whatever reason you have. I won’t be disappointed. I’m someone who doesn’t care about gender and backgrounds after all. I care for personality, the actions you’ve taken as **you**. And by what I’ve seen so far, you’re a wonderful, sweet and brave person.”

That was too much for Ladybug. She didn’t know how to take that all inside of her. She didn’t know how to react at all with mixed feelings inside of her. Firstly Vulpino knew about her, about her civilian self. If he could notice who she really was, who else could actually do the same. She was actually also shocked that he knew so much about her. Maybe he was her classmate or just someone at the same school as she. She didn’t know, but she wanted to know. Second of all, she felt guilty about not feeling the same way as him. She hated to break his heart, even more after knowing how much he loved her.

Vulpino saw that this might be too much for Ladybug, so he took a step back to give her space. It might not help much, but he didn’t want to pressure her by standing so closely. He rubbed the back of his head, feeling that he shouldn’t have mentioned he knew about Marinette. But it was actually Marinette he fell in love with in the first place. Slowly his puppy love, just some innocent crush grew into something more as the years passed. He loved her. He cared about her. He wanted to be together with her.

“Ladybug, you don’t have to give me an answer now. I know that this might be too much for you. Also, we’ve only been partners for a while, so I get that this might be too sudden. If you want… I and Chat could take care of the patrol today.”

 _“Forget that he knows that you’re Marinette. Don’t give him hope. You must tell him that you love someone else. Marinette, tell him.”_ Ladybug knew that was what she must tell him. **She knew.** She knew she shouldn’t give him hope. It would only end more painfully. She loved Adrien just as much as he might love her. So she understood his feelings for her. That was why, she must end it. She didn’t want him to keep on dreaming. She wanted him to find the happiness he deserves. The sooner the better, so he got more time to recover. She must be strong. She must tell him. **Now**.

“Sorry Vulpino, I…”

She couldn’t look at him in the eyes, so she looked down once again. She didn’t want to hurt him. She didn’t want to give false hope either. She clenched her hands into fists, trying to gather some courage to turn him down.

Vulpino somehow got a bad feeling. Most people when they would apologize in a confession it would mean a rejection. He wasn’t really prepared for it, but he must take it. If she didn’t feel the same way for him, then of course he wouldn’t give up easily. But he had to accept it. He had to eventually give up his feelings. After all, he didn’t want to push it. He cared for her after all. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.

“I-I… I’m…” _“Say it. Say it Marinette. Don’t back out. Look at him in the eyes.”_ Ladybug took a deep breath and looked at him in the eyes. It surprised her. The look in his eyes were mixed with fear and determination. She noticed that his hands were trembling. Of course confessing to someone would be actually scary. But she didn’t notice at all as she only paid attention to his words. She paid too much attention that he actually knew the girl behind the mask. She didn’t even realized that it must’ve been scary for him to confess to her.

She knew that she was going to regret what she was about to do. But it must be done.

Vulpino was holding his breath as he saw that Ladybug looked at him in the eyes again. He hoped she wouldn’t reject him. He really hoped that there might be a chance for him. But no. He saw those eyes. Those eyes of regret, sadness and determination. He saw tears welling up in her eyes as the words rolled off her tongue.

“I’m sorry, Vulpino.”

There was it again. The apologize. The thing that almost always happen when someone would get rejected. Was there really no hope for him?

“I’m really happy that you feel this way about me. But…”

Here’s the ‘but’. First saying something nice, but the ‘but’ would always be followed by the painful news. He got to prepare for the worst. He knew that. He knew that in his mind. But not in his heart.

“But…I’m actually… in love with someone else.”

There it was. The rejection. It was just like someone shoot him right in the heart, making his heart fall of pieces by pieces. She was in love with someone else. Not only was that some ‘great’ news for him, but now he felt some pain for Chat. Not only was Chat his first friend, he was also his love rival. If he heard about this, if Chat wasn’t the one she meant, he would be sad. No, sad was a too simple word, he would be hurt, distressed, heartbroken. Just like him now.

“I’m really sorry. I really am. I… I didn’t want to hurt you. B-but, I didn’t want to give you false hope either…”

What was even worse than getting rejected by a girl who was already in love with someone else so there was totally no hope? Well, the answer would be that the girl he loved was crying. She cried when she rejected him. She seemed to feel really bad about it, which made him feel even worse. He didn’t want to see her cry. He wanted her to smile. To be happy. He wanted to be the one to make her happy, not to make her cry. That was what he truly wished for.

Nope, this day was becoming even worse. He knew that the clouds were dark. But to think that it would start raining now was really like some cliché romance story. It was totally not his lucky day and he wasn’t even Chat Noir. However, this might be good. At least he could cry now, making it seem like it was only the rain.

“… Ladybug, please don’t cry.” He stepped closer to her, gathering some leftover courage he still has inside of him. Despite his heartbroken heart, he still cared a lot about her. “Head home, Ladybug. Chat is not here yet, so you could just go to your room right away. I don’t want you or your kwami to catch a cold. Also… please don’t apologize. I… will be fine. Just give me time. But for now, you should really go home.”

He smiled faintly at her as he wiped the tears gently away. It was actually quite surprising that he was still able to smile at a situation like this, even if it was just a small smile.

“What about you? You should also go home.” She looked worried at him. After all, she didn’t want him to catch a cold either. Not on a day like this.

“I will go home. Don’t worry about me. I will let Chat know there won’t be a patrol today, even though he might’ve already guessed it as it’s raining now. But now he’s not here yet, you’re able to go home now without being caught. So hurry.”

“A-alright…I’m really s-“ She shut her mouth as she remembered she shouldn’t apologize. She smiled sincere at Vulpino, despite feeling guilty about breaking a guy’s heart. “Thank you Vulpino. I’m truly happy to know you love me so much. Thank you for loving me as Ladybug and just as **me**.”

She jumped from the school roof to her own roof at her house. It was actually a good thing they were next to each other.

Honestly, he was surprised to be thanked by Ladybug. He didn’t expect her to thank him so sincere. It made him feel slightly glad to confess to her. He sighed and took his flute out to call Chat Noir. He cleared his throat as he felt like it was being hoarse because he was on the edge of bursting out of tears.

Chat Noir picked up his call right away, as if he was waiting for it the whole time. As he saw Chat Noir on the screen, he seemed to be dry. Maybe he found some place to keep himself dry. At least he was glad Chat wouldn’t catch a cold because of him.

“Vulpino. I will send you the address where I am now. Go to me. Right now.”

He sounded stern and also worried. Maybe he saw right through him. He didn’t know what kind of expression he had on his face, but if it would make Chat sound so stern and concerned, it must’ve been some weird face. Even though he didn’t really feel like it, he went to the place where the feline hero was.

He saw that Chat Noir took shelter and he actually looked like some real cat, hating the water of the rain. It was actually quite a funny sight which made him chuckle, despite feeling heartbroken. He was glad that he wasn’t alone anymore. If he didn’t had any friends like before, if he confessed to Marinette as Nathaniel, without having anymore. He was sure that he would get akumatized again. Maybe that was also a reason why Chat was being so stern.

When Vulpino was walking close enough to him, he grabbed him by his arm and hugged him. It was a surprise for Vulpino, he noticed that when he heard him shriek.

“Vulpino, it’s okay to cry. I’m here for you, you’re not alone.”

“Chat…” That was the moment he couldn’t hold back his tears anymore. The tears flowed unchecked down his cheeks and dripped from his chin. He clenched his hand against Chat’s chest as he was crying his heart out. He didn’t care if this wasn’t manly, he didn’t care about anything anymore.

Chat was gently and silently petting Vulpino’s head, just like what a mother would do to her baby. He could still remember his mother doing this to him to slowly calm him down. He didn’t know what else to do to comfort his friend at this state, but leaving him alone wouldn’t been a good idea when he saw the pained expression on his face when he picked up his call.

It was the moment when his face became wet with tears that he felt like his whole world became darker than ever before. It was the same darkness as he felt years ago. Loneliness crippled in his every thought. His lungs struggled for breath against ribs of stone and his feet had lost their wanderlust. When he was in love with Marinette, he felt like his heart was soft, slowly getting stronger as he grew more confident, but now, it was simply broken. It was like he was all alone again. Until he heard Chat’s voice.

“Vulpino, don’t let the sadness eat you up. Remember, you’re not alone anymore.”

Chat Noir noticed that Vulpino’s breathing had become quite weird. He worried if he was doing alright. He couldn’t really see his face as Vulpino buried his face into his chest, but he could feel him clenching his suit stronger.

It was Chat’s voice that made Vulpino slowly calm down. He slowly started to speak, letting out the thoughts he had in his mind for a while. He wanted his friend to know about them and what happened.

“Ladybug… rejected me…”

That was of course quite obvious. He wouldn’t cry if that wasn’t the case. Vulpino knew that, but just saying it with his own mouth already hurt so much that it was difficult to breath.

“She… doesn’t feel the same way about me. I guess… I wasn’t the right one. I got no chance with her. There really is no hope for me. I guess you’re happy, Chat. Now you got a higher chance to be together with the one you love.”

Somehow being emotional made him say weird things. He knew that Chat wouldn’t be happy, at least not now when he was at this state. But somehow he was letting his anger out on someone who was being so supportive to him. He even comforts him now. He wanted to stop saying anything, before he would hurt his friend.

“… I guess I made it difficult for you now, didn’t I? Hahaha, and you were so supportive a while back. But secretly you hoped I would fail right? Hahahahaha, you must think I’m so pathetic now. I’m crying. I’m even crying on **your** chest now. Don’t pretend to be my friend, Chat. Don’t be kind to me. Please… Why are you being so kind to me? Why are you even caring about me? I was your love rival, right? Why aren’t you laughing in my face. Why didn’t you stop me for confessing to your love. Why… did you become my friend? Why… just why Chat. How can you be so kind to me. Even now… You’re comforting me like you really care about me. You’ve even been waiting for me this whole time. **Just why!** Why do you do this?”

He pushed himself away from Chat and looked angry at him, still tears rolling down from his eyes. Honestly he wasn’t angry at Chat. He was angry at himself. He just didn’t get why he deserved someone like Chat as his friend. He was being so selfless, he even took his time to comfort him.

“Vulpino. I care about you because you’re my friend. Why I’m your friend? Because I like you. You’re a great guy. I know you were my love rival, I know our first impressions weren’t that great. But I like your confidence. I admire how you could be so brave and confess to Ladybug while I couldn’t do that for a very long time, I still can’t do that. I don’t want to take away your chance of happiness and love. I care about you as much as I care about Ladybug. I know that if she would chose you, she would be happy. I wish for her happiness after all. I will be sad if she did chose you. It would be a lie if I said I felt quite relieved that didn’t happen. But for seeing you like this is totally not what I wish for. My friendship with you is more important than my love for her.”

“But… we’ve only been friends for a while. Why do you care so much about me? I don’t get it!”

Chat rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit away as he laughed awkwardly. “I’m quite a simple guy you know. I care for all my friends. I cherish them a lot. I hate seeing them in pain. Time doesn’t mean anything when it comes for caring about someone.”

Vulpino couldn’t help but smile at that, he even let out a laugh, partially out of happiness and partially out of relief for having such a simple-minded, but great friend. He hugged him.

“Thank you, Chat. Really. Thanks for everything.” He wanted to thank him for everything he had done for him. Being his friend. Being supportive. Being by his side now. He was grateful that they turned out to be friends instead of only love rivals. At least now, they aren’t rivals anymore. They are just friends. But for Vulpino, Chat was his best friend.

_“And this time… I will support him.”_

 

 


	9. Heartbreak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Wow it’s been really forever since I continued with this fanfic. I’m so sorry for keeping my readers waiting for months! ;n; I hope some of you didn’t forgot this fanfic or still want to read this. I will this time really try to update more regularly. >o< For the new readers, welcome and enjoy~!

“Hey Nath, are you sure you want to go to school? I mean… if you don’t feel like it, you can just stay home.”

Inarii was flying next to Nathaniel, while Nathaniel was looking in the bathroom mirror. He sighed loudly, scratching the side of his head. His hair looked terrible, no, **he** looked terrible. His hair was messy, his eyes were swollen and red because he cried so much.

“Thanks Inarii… But I’m fine. I have nothing to do here anyway. Even though I want to avoid Marinette for a while… I would only get more depressed when I will just be alone in my room.”

He smiled softly at Inarii before splashing cold water in his face and brushing his hair. He played with the edge of his hair, while looking at the mirror.

“Maybe I should cut my hair shorter…”

At the thought of that, he suddenly burst out of laughter. It was so sudden and loud that the fox kwami got quite scared of his friend. As he was getting really worried now, he tapped the shoulder of Nathaniel. “Nath, are you really alright? Don’t you want to rest more?”

“Ahahaha, sorry, sorry. It’s just… don’t they say that girls get their hair cut after a heartbreak? Now I’m even thinking about cutting my hair. Hah, maybe she would like me more if my hair style would be different? Geez, who am I kidding, there’s no way she would love me.”

“Hey, you don’t know that for sure yet… I mean, she only knows you for a while right? Maybe you can win her heart over.”

Nathaniel let out a sad chuckle as he went back to his room to dress up. “Maybe you’re right… But she doesn’t even notice me as Nathaniel. There’s no way if I would tell her who I am, she would be in love with me. Being rejected as Vulpino is enough for me. My feelings for her won’t get away just yet, but I think… Chat actually deserve her more. I mean… he thought of mine happiness before his. And I’m some hero who only recently appeared. I’m a real idiot to actually confess to her, I was rushing it…”

The redhead sat down on his bed and looked at his schoolbag. He wasn’t ready yet to tell Marinette that he was Vulpino. At least… as Nathaniel she could just ignore him and pay no attention to him at all, that way it wouldn’t be awkward between them. He would tell her when everything would be fine again. He knew that was quite unfair of him, but he wouldn’t be able to handle the concerned eyes from her to Vulpino **and** Nathaniel.

Nathaniel sighed again and looked at the clock. He would be late if he doesn’t hurry up. He didn’t feel like eating so he skipped breakfast and only took food for Inarii with him.

“Nath! You can’t just skip breakfast. You already look unhealthy now. Maybe you should stay home and sleep a bit.”

Inarii was just being really worried about his friend. Not sleeping a lot, not even eating now, that will only make his health worse. This is no way he should deal with a heartbreak.

“Please Inarii, for now… Just leave me be. I don’t feel like eating, nor do I feel like arguing. Just… for now okay? I will eat later when I’m hungry.”

“Nath… You know that you need energy in order to use your strength as Vulpino. If you push yourself too hard and you need to transform… It can be possible that part of your life energy would be taken away in order to fight.”

Nathaniel just sighed and understand Inarii’s concern. He will take an apple and eat that on the way to school. However, even eating an apple makes him sigh so much as if the apple just makes him even more sad. Just for a while Nathaniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Alright, let’s go to school Inarii. Maybe if I’m lucky, I can get distracted enough and cheer up for a bit.”

After all, Adrien and Nino are at school. He shouldn’t forget about his new friends. He should be happy to at least have them.

xxx

Weird, seems like he got earlier at school then his friends. He wonders where they are now, Adrien is usually on time. Or he just came to school way earlier. Ah, maybe he could just rest his eyes, he does feel sleepy now.

Nathaniel leaned his head on his arms and just closed his eyes. Only grunting when he heard a very annoying giggling next to him.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here? I actually planned to get revenge on you for what you did to me yesterday, but it seems like I wasn’t even needed. Hah, it seems like someone else did my work… most likely yourself. You look horrible you know. It’s as if you’re half dead.”

_“Ah, maybe Inarii was right. I shouldn’t have gone to school after all. Ugh, I forgot all about this annoying spoiled princess.”_

Nathaniel just keep his eyes closed and ignored Chloé. Who knows, maybe she would just leave him alone after she’s done talking and got bored.

“Nathaniel Kurtzberg! I’m talking to you! How dare you ignore me, Chloé Bourgeois!”

_“Just ignore it, you can endure it Nathaniel. Just ignore her and she will leave.”_

Chloé was tilting her head to her right and stared down at Nathaniel. He wasn’t sleeping, right? She came all the way up to the stairs to talk to him and want to get revenge on him. Maybe she should just wake him up if he’s asleep.

She walked one step down and stood in front of him. She looked at his face and even poked at his head with his pencil, but he doesn’t seem to open his eyes at all. She looked around for his sketchbook, maybe she could make fun of him if she just “lend” his sketchbook. But weirdly enough, his sketchbook was nowhere on the table.

“Ugh, if you’re not feeling well go home. If you’re here I might get some of your illness as well and become sick myself.”

“You’re already sick in the head tho.” Nathaniel accidently mumbled aloud. Now he’s hoping she didn’t hear it, but luck was not on his side as she screamed almost in his ear.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY? How dare you insult me like that and ignore me as well!”

Nathaniel just sighed aloud and opened his eyes. He looked at Chloé and was about to say something, but she got ahead of him with her stupid laugh.

“Hahaha, you look even more horrible with your eyes open! It’s as if you cried a lot! Oh? OH! I see, I see. You were crying because you got so scared what I might do to you today, no? You sure got the nerve to come to school at this state then. What? You want to ask for forgiveness? Ah well, I had such a good laugh because of you. If you beg for forgiveness on your knees, I might let you off this time. So how about it? Am I not very nice today to you? It must be your lucky day that I’m in such a good mood.”

“Ah, here we go again. Being such a high-mighty spoiled princess like always. Not everything is about you, Chloé. I did not cry because of you. You will no longer be any reason for what happens in **my** life. Just go and play your dolls and leave me alone. I’m in no mood to talk to you at all.”

With that, Nathaniel closed his eyes again and leaned on his arms. He already feels so tired after talking with Chloé. Just who does she think she is? He will cry because of her? Hah, she wishes.

“What! And I was being so nice to let you off too! If you talk to me like that, you would end up all alone again. No one would like you and you will get a girlfriend. Everyone will just ignore you and see you as **nothing** like before. Ah, even better. Why not date Marinette? You both would stay away from my Adrien that away. I’m sure she will come to like someone of her sort. You two are both **nothing** after all.”

“ **ENOUGH!** ”

Chloé took a step back as she heard Nathaniel scream so loud to. It was the first time to hear him raise his voice like that, it’s mostly surprising when he’s someone who usually remains quiet. However, now, he’s standing up and glaring at her. She was getting scared, but she won’t show that.

“Can’t you just shut up for once? It’s alright if you just talk bad about me, but don’t bring Marinette into this! She’s an amazing girl, the best in the world! She’s someone you can **never** be! She’s such a talented fashion designer who sometimes doesn’t see her own talents. She can be clumsy, tripping maybe even over nothing, but heck that’s so cute about her. She’s so kind to everyone, even to Lila who was **hated** by everyone. She will give people a second chance, she tries to see the good in them. She’s selfless what you need to be as well. She cares so much for everyone, that she thinks about them before herself. Even when we were attacked by an akumatized villain once, she tries to keep every safe or bring them to safety! Maybe you just hate Marinette so much because she is **nothing like you**. She’s loved by everyone and you are hated by everyone!”

Chloé doesn’t want to lose to this stupid guy. She doesn’t want to admit something she always denied. Her daddy told her to be confident in herself. Never show people your own insecurities is what he said. Act powerful and unfearful! That’s what she always has been doing, why doesn’t people like her? _“I’m not kind? Hah, you can’t buy food with kindness.”_

“As if! Who would ever love a girl like that?!”

“Well I do! I love Marinette! And you will never beat a girl like her! I bet you just want so many attentions because your father doesn’t give you any!” Nathaniel shouted so loud to her face that she just has gone speechless.

They so busy with arguing to each other that they didn’t even notice that a lot of his classmates are already in the classroom. There were some soft whispers, which made Nathaniel look around. Everyone was staring at him, even Nino and Adrien.

“…I shouldn’t have come to school after all.”

Nathaniel mumbled as he grabbed his bag and just ran out of class, leaving his books behind. As he was running away, he could hear Adrien calling after him but he won’t stop. He will keep on running.

However, there was one moment when he stopped. It was when Marinette passed him by in a hurry. He looked behind to see her running to school and just laughed sadly.

“I still can’t get over her huh…”

Slow steps turned into walking, walking turning into speed walking, speed walking turned into running. He was running as his life depends on it. His sight became blurry as his tears rolled down from his cheeks. His heart was beating so fast he could even hear it in his head. He can’t hear anything at all, as if no one is in this world besides him.

Somehow his feet lead him to his house and he was even able to get there safely. He threw his bag to his bed and just slides down, leaning against the wall. He hugged his legs as he leaned his head on his knees.

xxx

“What’s…going on?”

Something feels weird, as if something happened to the classroom. Everyone stared at Marinette when she came into the classroom and then whispered to each other. Was it that weird for her to be late?

“Mari, you really had to be here earlier!”

Alya grabbed Marinette by her arm and explained everything to her. Even quoting what Nathaniel said about her from what she could’ve remembered. Alya never thought that Nathaniel could be so brave and talk back to Chloé like that. She always thought he was more like the guy who would remain silent from the side-line, but wow he really changed.

After hearing all, Marinette couldn’t help but blush and feel quite confused. It’s as if she heard the same words before. It sounded so similar that it can’t be said by two different people…  

_“I can’t be… Nathaniel can’t be… **him,** right?” _

No, it can’t be right? However, the only one who could say something like that to her and who also looks like Vulpino is Nathaniel. He’s also in her class, so of course he would know about her. However, there’s still a possibility that it’s someone else. Besides that… Why did Chloé pick a fight with Nathaniel in the first place?

“Chloé Bourgeois, please stay behind after school.”

xxx

As school was almost finished, Marinette kept a good eye on Chloé the whole time.  Oddly enough Chloé has been quiet and seems to be even thinking about something. She didn’t make any remarks when Marinette made a silly mistake in class or if someone else said something dumb. She didn’t even argue with Miss Bustier when she was told to stay behind after school to talk about her fought with Nathaniel. This was unlike her.

“Hey Alya, do you know why they were fighting in the first place?”

Marinette asked when she was getting out of school. She was pretty curious why Chloé would even do something like that to Nathaniel. He always seems to be sweet and to hear from Alya that he even raised his voice to Chloé means that she really did something to him. Well, she knew that Nathaniel always has disliked Chloé since that one incident.

“Nino told me Chloé was getting annoyed that Adrien was sitting next to Nathaniel, since she wasn’t sitting close to him anymore. So, she called him during lunch break to talk with her and it seems like Nathaniel talked back to her. I bet Chloé wanted to get some revenge today, but it totally failed,” Alya said and then looked at the books Marinette has been carrying.

“You sure you want to go to Nathaniel? I mean… Wouldn’t it be awkward? Even Adrien tried to stop you and offered to bring the books to Nathaniel instead. You… didn’t fall in love with Nathaniel now, did you?”

Marinette looked slightly sad and shook her head lightly. “No… I… Just need to talk to him about something. Bringing his books back was just an excuse.”

xxx

“Inarii… You said to me before that all of your previous miraculous wielders got a happy love life right…? Will I… get one as well?”

Inarii sighed softly and sat on Nathaniel’s knees. He looked at Nathaniel’s eyes, which looked worse by now than in the morning.

“Nath… You’re still young. I’m sure there will be another person coming in your life. I will guarantee you a happy love life. That will be my promise to you, so believe in my okay?”

Inarii smiled softly to Nathaniel and he nodded. He does hope that he will be able to get happy. Well… maybe love is not everything. Thanks to Inarii he got great friends now as well. Maybe he should keep it that way…staying friends. Things would be less complicated and less awkward that way. And if he would just see Marinette as friend… he could even help Chat Noir. He’s such a great guy, maybe Marinette could fall in love with him instead.

“How about you call Chat? You two should hang out, mostly as thanks what he has done for you.”

Nathaniel agreed with that, he should thank Chat properly. He will get on the rooftop and get transformed then. Maybe he can even do something fun together with just his illusions. The thought of hanging out with his first human friend just made him feel better already. There was already a smile on his face, as if Chat already promised to hang out with him. However… that smile disappeared as soon as he opened the heard the bell rang and… saw that Marinette was standing in front of the door.

He didn’t want to be rude and took a deep breath before opening the door for her. He must be strong; he needs to try not to cry in front of her. She already seems nervous enough now. She must’ve heard about the fight. _“Well, try to put a smile then and just open the door.”_

“H-hi Nathaniel.”

“Hello Marinette.” 


	10. A New Friendship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, I will try to update this fanfic every Saturday or Sunday! :D Without further ado, enjoy reading~

_“Okay, why is she here? I see that she carries my books, but does that mean she was just kind enough to bring them to me? She is kind after all. However, didn’t she heard anything from our class? Or… could it be she’s going to reject me…again? Ugh, I really don’t want to hear that. I’m not sure if I can handle another rejection. Or is it possible that I’m the one she was in love with? Hah, yeah right as if. She never looked at me that way.”_

“Nathaniel?”

_“Like sure, it would be nice if she was actually liking me as Nathaniel. However I what’s wrong how I **want** to be? Like Vulpino? What’s wrong with him? Well of course we’ve only known each other for a while, I mean, she won’t just like a total stranger right off the bat right? Still, I only wanted to share her my feelings so she would take me serious. I didn’t expect a flat out rejection and also that she’s already in love with someone else. Even so, who is that someone? Would it be alright if I ask her about it? Well mayb-“_

“Nathaniel!”

“Huh?” Nathaniel looked confused in front of him at Marinette. Ah, maybe he had been thinking for too long. He stepped aside and gestured her to come inside. He pointed out to let her sit on the couch and he will close the door.

“Are you alright, Nathaniel? If you… don’t really feel well or… if you want me to leave, I can do that.” Marinette mumbled while she put Nathaniel’s book on a table. She was now doubting if it was really alright for her to visit Nathaniel. After all, she rejected him and maybe he’s afraid she would do it again.

“If I said I’m alright, it would be a lie... But you don’t have to leave. May I ask why you’re here though? You’re not here only to bring me my books, are you?”

Nathaniel sighed slightly and sat across from her. His eyes are swollen and she even ask him if he’s alright. Couldn’t she just see that he’s not alright? Besides, she didn’t need to bring his books to him, Adrien could’ve done that as well. If Marinette came here to say something to him or ask him something, it would be better to do it soon. He actually wants to be left alone, but it would be rude to send her away after she went through the trouble to bring him his books. And maybe she won’t talk about his feelings he has for her.

“W-well… yes, you’re right...” Marinette was feeling quite awkward as Nathaniel saw right through her. Her question was also stupid as she noticed his red swollen eyes. He must’ve cried a lot… How should she even bring up the question if Nathaniel is Vulpino. Maybe he isn’t even Vulpino. It would be so embarrassing if she was wrong. However she has to know. It’s not fair if only Vulpino knows who she is.  

“So… you are Vulpino, right?”

 _“Good job Marinette. How could I’ve asked it straight to the point? Maybe I should’ve asked it in another way. And I even asked as if I know he’s Vulpino for sure. Ugh, I’m so stupid. Why can’t I ask it less awkward or talk about something else first?”_ Marinette was really panicking in her head. She did notice that Nathaniel looks very dumbfounded as she asked that question. However, she doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Maybe he thinks she’s crazy to come up with that idea? Or maybe he really is Vulpino.

Well… she didn’t bring up his feelings, so that was good? Actually, Nathaniel wasn’t sure anymore which one is better. He wasn’t prepared for both cases actually. To think that she actually figured it out so fast is quite impressive actually. Should he just admit it or act like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. If he denies it, he would be lying to the one he loves and that might bring some trust issues later on.

Nathaniel just sighed aloud and ruffled his hair out of frustration with his eyes closed. Now his hair even looks like Vulpino, though he didn’t do that on purpose. He opened his eyes and faintly smiled to Marinette.

 “Seems like I let the fox out of the bag.”

 So she was right. Nathaniel **is** Vulpino! To think she would’ve figured it out so easily. She was feeling quite proud of that, but it also made her think if that was really good. And he even admitted so easily. Well, maybe he did that because he also knows her identity.

At least Marinette wouldn’t reject him again. She was not that cruel. Oh right, now she knows who he is, he could ask who’s the one she loves. It’s not wrong to ask that right? He didn’t want to pressure her to answer it, only because he knows her secret and she knows his secret. However, he was just curious who had captured her heart.

“So now you know my secret, can I know something about you too?”

Marinette looked slightly confused at him. He does know about her secret right? He knows she’s Ladybug, so what else does he want to know about her?

“Sure, you can ask me anything.”

She was actually expecting that they would be more awkward with the whole confession and rejection yesterday. However, Nathaniel looked more relieved or at least more relaxed now. Maybe because they don’t have big secrets for each other?

“It’s alright if you don’t want to answer this. I’m just curious about it, but… you mentioned yesterday that… you like someone else. May I know who? Is it someone from our class?”

“…”

“Marinette?” Nathaniel tilted his head slightly to the left as he looked confused to Marinette. She seems to be totally frozen. Was it bad for him to ask it after all?

Suddenly Marinette’s face turned bright red. She was still looking at him with surprised wide eyes, but it looked more like she was panicking inside her head. Nathaniel wanted to calm her down by saying it’s alright for him not to know. However, Marinette was interrupting him.

“I-it’s…A-” She softly started to talk, averting her eyes from Nathaniel.

“A?” Nathaniel leaned more forward to hear what she’s saying. It seems like the one she loves begins with an ‘A’.  He couldn’t hear what she mumbled after that.

Marinette nodded slightly and didn’t want to repeat again who she mentioned. She wasn’t sure why she would even tell him. Wouldn’t Nathaniel feel upset after hearing who she loves? He seems to be friends with Adrien now, so… Wouldn’t that cause some troubles for their friendship if she would tell him?

It seems like Marinette doesn’t want to repeat the name again. So it’s someone whose name begins with an ‘A’. Well, the only ones in their class whose name begins with the letter ‘A’ are… Adrien, Alya and Alix.

“Wait, could it be Adrien?” It could of course be that she might like someone else with the letter ‘A’ or she likes Alya or Alix. However, as he noticed that Marinette got startled when he mentioned Adrien, it looks like he’s the one she loves.

“So it is Adrien…” Well it was to be expected actually. Many people loves him and he deserves the love. However, he does feel like he can’t beat Adrien. Maybe he should indeed give up. Marinette deserves someone like Adrien… or Chat Noir. Chat Noir is also an awesome guy. Adrien is all nice and such, but Chat Noir really loves her.

“This might be a random question, but what do you think about Chat Noir?”

“Chat Noir?” Marinette was taken aback by this question. She didn’t expect Nathaniel to mention him after he found out who she loves. Why bother asking? Well, it won’t hurt to tell him how she thinks about Chat.

“Chat Noir… he’s a great partner of mine. He’s always there when you need him. I can trust him with anything actually. He’s selfless, outgoing, cocky, optimistic and open. He makes a lot of puns what annoys me, but actually… I like his puns. Ah, but don’t tell him that. He will go on and on with his puns if he knows that I actually don’t dislike them.”

Marinette chuckled slightly as she got many more things to say about Chat. She actually thinks pretty highly of him as a partner.

“Well, there are many more things I have to say about him. Not only his good sides, but also his bad sides. Not that I mind his bad sides, like he brags a lot about himself. He really loves to brag about himself. Ah, he also loves to call me by nicknames, like ‘my lady’ as Ladybug and ‘princess’ as Marinette. It seems like he wants to be quite the gentleman?”

Marinette keeps talking about Chat with a smile on her face, it was as if she likes Chat. Maybe Chat got a chance after all. Chat and Adrien are quite different, but if he hears and sees how Marinette talks about Chat… it seems like she might have feelings for him as well, but she doesn’t realize it?

“Then… what do you like about Adrien?”

“A-a-adrien?” Marinette stuttered and just looked down at her hands, playing with her shirt. She doesn’t really know where to begin. She loves everything about Adrien, like…

“H-his smile. His smile is so dreamy, as if it shines like the sun. His kindness to everyone is mesmerizing, he’s even kind to Chloé!”

“Yeah, that’s indeed very special.” Nathaniel agreed as he dislike Chloé maybe even more than Marinette does. He even rolled his eyes when he thought about her.

“I know right! I can’t believe that he stays friends with Chloé. I mean, she’s just so… so… ugh. I can’t even describe her in one word. She’s just so horrible! She’s selfish, annoying, bragging a lot, very obsessive. I mean, yeah I can be obsessive about Adrien as well, but I’m not that obsessive like Chloé. She’s just claiming him like he’s some object. She got no consideration at all for others!”

“I totally agree with that. She even got mad at me for just being friends with Adrien. Just talking about her already makes my blood boil.”

xxx

 

“I hate to interrupt your conversation together about Chloé and Adrien. It’s about time to patrol.” Inarii said, after finishing his rice. Tikki sat next to him and received a chocolate cookie from Nathaniel. They introduced their kwami’s before after they were done with ranting about Chloé. After they had pizza together, they were talking about Adrien.

It was actually easier to have a conversation with Marinette than he thought. Though he didn’t imagine to rant together about Chloé. He doesn’t really mind though and maybe it’s bad to badmouth about her behind her back, but he will say the same things in her face if he wants. He already faced her head on, so he’s not scared of her.

“Yeah, maybe Chat Noir is already waiting.” Tikki said while flying to Marinette.

“Well, we can’t keep the cat waiting then.” Nathaniel chuckled and was ready to leave. He was actually looking forward to see Chat and thank him properly.

xxx

“You two seems to be quite close now.” Chat looked at his friend and Ladybug who were smiling at each other when they were talking about something. Well, he was glad they were getting along with each other. He actually prepared himself for some awkward silences or that one of two won’t show up. However, to think that they are getting along with each other so quickly is quite surprising. Does that mean that Vulpino is totally over Ladybug? It can’t be right? Or is he not giving up and trying to win her heart over? If that’s the case, maybe he should try his best too? Should he even give up his love? His friend is more important than having a lover…

“Hey kitty, seems like you finally arrived.” Ladybug said jokily as if she’s been waiting forever. Though they waited only some minutes.

“Chat!” Vulpino smiled brightly and quickly approached the feline hero. “I really want to thank for yesterday. If there’s anything I can do to repay you, please tell me. Without you, who knows what could’ve happened to me.”

Chat Noir chuckled and shook his head. “You don’t owe me, foxy. We’re friends after all. Besides… I’m really glad you feel better now. I was worried things might be awkward between you and LB.”

“Yeah, I thought that would be the case as well, but we had some serious conversation together.” Actually they were ranting about Chloé and admiring Adrien, like two total different conversations. Not that he’s going to tell him that was the reason they got more like friends. He does feel very friendzoned now, but maybe that’s just for the best. It’s better to stay by her side as friend then losing her.

“A serious conversation huh…” Somehow he couldn’t help but let his jealousy slip. He knows and he really wants to be there for Vulpino. But somehow he just can’t hold his real emotions back.

“Ah, don’t worry Chat, we’re not together or anything. I’m totally friendzoned by her.” Vulpino laughed sadly and glanced over at Ladybug who was just sitting at the edge waiting for the guys to patrol together.  

“I see… But isn’t that quite painful, since you still have feelings for her?” Chat asked carefully, not trying to hurt his friend. He was just worried if this was really alright.

Vulpino saw the worried expression of his feline friend and laughed softly. “You really are a great friend, you know that? Don’t worry, those feelings might fade after a while. If I love her enough to be her lover, than I also love her enough to be just friends with her right? I don’t want to lose her… so I would rather be her friend than avoiding her forever. Besides, I think avoiding would be even impossible as we have to work together.”

“I see… But if it gets too painful for you, please tell me. I have your back.” Chat was still of course worried about Vulpino’s feelings. However, maybe it’s better for him to move on? This does make him even more afraid to confess to Ladybug though. What if she would reject him as well, would he do the same? He’s not sure how he would deal with his feelings, but he surely doesn’t want to give up. He actually wonders how Vulpino could give up his feelings for her that easily. Though everyone is different and everyone deals about this a different way. Would he… recover from a heartbreak as fast as Vulpino as well? Just thinking about Ladybug rejected him already breaks his heart.

“And I have yours.” Vulpino smiled and gave Chat a quick hug. “Thanks Chat. No matter what happens, I’m here for you and I want to support you as well.”

“Ready to patrol?” Ladybug asked after a while and the male heroes nodded, ready to patrol. Chat glanced for the last time to Vulpino before jumping to another building. He still got many questions, but he can leave that for another time.

xxx

“Like I said Sabrina, stop bothering me! Or else I will block you and never talk to you again!”

Chloé screamed on her phone and hang up. She sat frustrated on her bed, turning her phone off. She got the urge to throw her phone away, but then she hears a knock on her door.

“My apologies to disturb you, miss Bourgeois, but your father wishes to speak with you.”

 

 

 


	11. Chloé's acting weird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry I took so long with this chapter. I wrote it longer to make up for the wait. ^^” Enjoy reading~ :3

"You wish to speak to me, daddy?"

Chloé just stepped in to his room without knocking. Well, he was expecting her anyways, so why should she even bother knocking?

Mister Bourgeois looked slightly disappointed to his daughter. He heard another complain about her and that could ruin his reputation as major. Besides, he ignored this many times, letting his daughter do what she wants and believing she never did something wrong. In his eyes, she looks like a sweet princess, though… some other people doesn't seem to think the same.

"I think it's about time we talk about… school. How have you been doing dear?"

Chloé would usually smile to her father or act like she was having a hard time. If something bad happened to her, she would complain about it and blame the others. However, this time she just felt too tired to even pretend. Why does her father even bother her about school this time? It would usually be her going to him, not the other way around. This is one of those rare moments when her father wishes to talk to her when he's not that busy or when he takes time off specially for her. Those are precious time to her. To think that she must spend such a precious time with her father to talk about **school** of all things, how ridiculous!

"I'm sorry, daddy. Can we talk about this another time? I'm tired… A lot had happened today…"

Chloé slightly sighed and averted her eyes. She didn't want to look at her father. Not today… Not now…

The major even more worried about his precious daughter. She was not acting like her usual self. He only heard she argued with some kid in class. However, he didn't hear what it was about. Did that kid bullied his daughter? If someone dare to do that to his daughter, then their parents would be in such huge trouble as well. He will make sure that that person would learn his learn his lesson and treat his daughter right, like how everyone's supposed to treat her. No daughter of the major would get bullied without any consequences!

"Chloé, you're not getting bullied, are you? Who's the one who made you so upset? I will call his parents right away!"

"What?"

Chloé was honestly surprised by this response. Her? Bullied? Hah, no one would dare to bully the daughter of the major. It was actually more the other way around…

"No, no. I'm not getting bullied. It's nothing. I just had an argue with someone at school. It was just some kid in my class who disrespected me and… well we were both at… faults... I think…"

It was so hard for her to admit she was also in the wrong. She hurt so many people before, but never admitted it. She even turned the blame towards them or just laughed it off. However, somehow something hit her. Something about Nathaniel, what he said about her, made her think differently. This was the second time already she did something unusual. She even got this weird feeling in her chest, which made her feel upset and it was also painful. She didn't like this feeling at all… It made her feel like she should apologize to him…

"…I'm going back to my room. It's late and I don't want to talk about it. Goodnight, daddy."

Chloé turned around and returned to her room without waiting for her father's response. She already felt… _bad_ … about this whole situation. She never felt like this before because of anyone. How come she suddenly feels this kind of annoying feeling?

Maybe everything will be alright tomorrow… If she's able to sleep.

xxx

"Rise and shine, Inarii~"

Nathaniel smiled brightly as he poked Inarii softly on his forehead. He was already feel much better comparing to yesterday. Somehow talking about everything with Marinette made him feel better. Well, in some way. Of course, he's upset she didn't like him in the same way, but he can't dwell in the past forever. Besides, he made some progress! He's much closer to her than he was ever before! That's something great, right? Friends stays mostly longer together with each other anyways.

"Man, you're really cheered up today huh. Well, I like you more with that big smile on your face anyways."

Inarii yawned and rubbed in his eyes, before grinning at his partner. He didn't know that humans could change their emotions that quickly. Well, maybe Nathaniel is just some special kid. Some people would take more time to feel down about their heartbreak. A broken heart is not easily fixed. Still… maybe his heart wasn't really heartbroken? Or maybe in his heart he still hopes that he could go out with her. Or… he didn't love her that much… No, no, he shouldn't doubt his partner's feelings. He should just be grateful that Nathaniel is in a good mood now. At least he really hopes Nathaniel isn't forcing himself to be happy…

"By the way, Nath. Are you sure you want to go to school today?"

Nathaniel looked confused to his kwami. Why shouldn't he go to school? He skipped school yesterday as well, so he couldn't skip school today as well. He might get in some big trouble if he would skip school again.

"Yes of course. Besides, if I won't go, my friends will be worried about me."

Ah friends… That felt so nice to say. He always thought that no one would care if he wasn't at school. He was sitting all the way in the back anyways, no one would notice the difference. However, now he has people to talk to. He actually made friends to hang out with! Just thinking about them gave him a thrill of excitement to go to school. Weird huh? Most people wouldn't look forward to go to school, because yeah… it's school. However, now he got friends, he can finally see school as some kind of hangout place to see his friends almost every day!

"Alright then, let's eat breakfast and go to school~"

Inarii smiled. He actually meant the whole situation about Chloé. They were fighting with each other yesterday after all. Maybe he forgot about it? Well, that would be for the best. He didn't want to ruin his good mood because of her, now he was feeling all better.

xxx

Somehow Nathaniel couldn't stop smiling while walking at school. Some people must've thought he was creepy, but he didn't care. Nothing could ruin his mood now, not even Chloé! At least, he would not let her ruin his mood. Maybe it would be for the best to be nice to her today and not provoke her.

"What are you smiling all about? Did Marinette accept your feelings or something?"

" _Ah, speak of the devil."_

Nathaniel looked to his left, to see Chloé Bourgeois again, standing next to his stead with crossed arms. Somehow she looks… terrible? As if she didn't sleep well at all. Though some might not notice it with all that makeup she putted on her face. However her eyes look very tired.

"Also good morning to you, Chloé."

Nathaniel already promised himself he would be nice to her. If he would do that, maybe she would just leave him alone. He didn't want to start another fight with her.

" _What? How come he's smiling at me? Did he forget our whole fight yesterday? Did he forget what he said to me? How he treated me? How_ _ **I**_ _treated_ _ **him**_ _?!"_

"Ugh, when you smile at me like that, it's really creepy and disgusting."

Somehow she said that while being shocked how Nathaniel was treating her now. This is what she wanted in the beginning, him treating her with respect or at least not hostile. However, it feels so weird to suddenly get what she wanted now. As if she didn't deserve it.

" _Be nice… Be nice. Don't lose your control, Nathaniel."_

Nathaniel forced to laugh slightly and looked away. He tried to calm down before looking at her again.

"Sorry for being so creepy and disgusting then… Also, sorry for yesterday. What I said might've gone too far. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."

Would this make her go away? She did look speechless at him. It was quite a funny sight, like she was some goldfish staring at him. Maybe it wasn't so bad to act nice even to Chloé. He does need to ask some advice how Adrien could be so nice to everyone though.

"What!"

Why was he the one apologizing to her! She should be doing that! He was obviously hurt because of her. He even ran away! Now he's looking all happy and fine while she was feeling so troubled about this whole thing. She even struggled to go to him to apologize. She was thinking all night about it, that she might feel better if she would apologize to him. Besides that, she **knows** he hates her! She's not that stupid. So why? Why was he able to apologize so easily to her? Didn't he struggle with his pride or something? Didn't he have any feelings of anger towards her anymore? This just made her blood boil so much that she slammed her hand on the table in front of him, which made him startled.

"I-!"

" _I should be the one apologizing to you, Nathaniel Kurtzburg! You were obviously not feeling alright yesterday. You looked_ _ **horrible**_ _! And I even made it worse. However, now you look totally fine as if nothing happened. Why do you look so stupidly happy?! How come you look like you slept well yesterday while I wasn't even able to sleep! I was even worried about you after you went home! Ugh I feel so stupid now!"_

Chloé couldn't help but just glare at Nathaniel. She wanted to yell all those things to him what was in her mind, but instead her mouth was tightly shut. In the end, she looked at Sabrina and yelled at her with a commanding tone.

"Sabrina! Grab my bag and call my driver, I'm not feeling well so I'm going home!"

Okay, Nathaniel was now completely confused. Why did Chloé look so angry after he apologized to her? He was being nice to her. Was that not enough as well? Geez, how can you even satisfy this girl? Well, if she's going home anyways, that's just better for him. He doesn't need to deal with her anymore that way. Lucky~

Even though Chloé said she would go home, she was planning to go somewhere else. Instead, she would just go to the Eiffel Tower or something or some café to drink her ice coffee. Today is a sunny day, it would be a waste to spend such a nice day inside school. Besides, she couldn't stay in the same classroom with Nathaniel without exploding again.

xxx

Somehow these days had been awfully quiet. There was no Akuma attack at all. Maybe because Chloé wasn't her usual self? Though there might always be some other person who hurts someone else. Every human can hurt someone else's feelings…

"No… Don't think about negative stuff."

Nathaniel mumbled to himself and softly slapped on his cheeks, as if he was trying to wake himself up. He just came back from school, instead of thinking about something useless, he should just do his homework. He still needed to catch up with his homework from yesterday. However, even though he was trying to do his homework, he fails doing it. In the end he was just doodling in his sketchbook again.

"Nath, are you really okay not doing your homework?"

Inarii was sitting on his desk above his sketchbook, he was looking at what his partner is drawing this time. This time it was nothing romantic, just some small comic of Chat, Ladybug and him fighting against some monsters.

Nathaniel sighed and put his pencil done. He rested his head on his arms, looking tiredly at his schoolbooks.

"Of course I need to do my homework, but I really don't feel the energy to do them. My brains seems to leave whenever I want to do my homework."

"Hmmm, why not think as your homework like some monster you need to defeat by solving the problems? You're a hero right? You should defeat the homework monster!"

Inarii grabbed a ballpoint pen and poked the schoolbooks with it, as if the pen was some kind of sword. Nathaniel couldn't help but chuckle at such a ridiculous idea, but with Inarii it might not be so boring to do his homework.

"Fine, I will do some homework."

"That's my partner!"

Inarii grinned proudly to his partner. He was glad that his plan worked, maybe he should try to find some more motivations for Nath to work on his homework. He gets that a lot of students don't feel like doing something related to school.

xxx

Chloé has been sitting the whole time in a café close by the Eiffel Tower. She was just slowly drinking her ice coffee while flipping through some magazines. She could feel that some waitress sometimes look at her way, maybe because she's been here for a long time. Not that she would care anyways. She would just tell them she's the daughter of the major and then they would just shut up. She would rather have some time for herself in peace.

Though that peace was already getting ruined by some screams. She was putting her magazine angrily down and looked what was going on. It had been quite peaceful in Paris, but on a day when she wanted to have some peace it was being noisy. It couldn't get any worse, can it?

xxx

Well, she shouldn't have thought it couldn't get any worse. Now she wears some very ugly bright red shoes and couldn't stop dancing because of that stupid akumatized guy. What did he call himself again? The Danseur? Or something like that. How come all those names for those villains are horrible? Though hers was of course quite good.

"Hey, doesn't this seem familiar?"

"Right, right, of the fairytale The Red Shoes right? Well, this does make everyone dance en pointe."

"Oh come on guys, let's go and defeat that akumatized guy. Everyone would get tired dancing the whole time like that. We should defeat him as soon as possible."

Ladybug sighed slightly to hear Chat making another pun, but she would just ignore it like always and focus on how she should defeat this danseur. In the meantime, Vulpino was chuckling because of Chat's pun.

"DANCE! Everyone should dance to feel the passion of ballet! No one will think I'm lame anymore, hahaha!"

"I still think you're lame! Not only are you wearing that stupid outfit, but you are involving strangers to do some stupid ballet moves because of your issues! I got better things to do so let me go!"

Chloé yelled at him. She was very pissed off to be forced to dance. She didn't even started reading her magazine for real yet. She saw some interesting articles about makeup products and how to keep the skin super soft. Now she couldn't even do that!

"You! How dare you call me, Danseur, lame! You will dance for me like a monkey! You will forever dance till you die! To make it even more exciting, how about dancing at the Eiffel Tower~!"

The akumatized villain laughed and made the shoes speed up the dance moves. The shoes brings her up to the Eiffel Tower at full speed and make her dance on the edge. Chloé was screaming out of horror and called out for help. She never danced as fast as this and it sure is tiring. Her body is not used to this much movement in such a short amount of time. And the height even made things worse.

"Well, this is a turnout." Vulpino said as he looked with a judgmental look at Chloé. She asked for it after all.

"Pfft, nice pun, foxy. After we defeat Danseur, you will take care of that girl." Chat chuckled and then pointed towards Chloé. But before saving her, they should save Paris first.

xxx

After the fight, Chat and Ladybug left Chloé in his care. Why though? And why was she even here? Didn't she go home before? She said she wasn't feeling well… and now she looks even worse. Must've be because of dancing so much.

"Are you okay?"

As a hero, he should treat everyone equal. Even though it's Chloé he's talking to, he couldn't help but worry when she looks like on the verge of fainting. She even almost fell down when the Danseur was defeated, because her legs gave in. It was a good thing he was fast enough to catch her before she fell down. Now she was sitting and hugging her legs. She didn't even thanked him for her support, geez, talk about gratitude.

"… Do I look like I'm fine?"

Chloé looked down, which wasn't a good idea. She was really high up and if she would lean even more forward, she would surely fall down. Besides that, she's now with an unknown hero. She looked at her right to glance at this fox hero. She saw him before in her classroom, but other than that, she never saw him before.

"Who are you actually?"

Vulpino sighed slightly and then put one knee on the ground. He smiled kindly at her and hold his hand out so she should shake it.

"I'm Vulpino, the new fox hero."

Chloé looked suspiciously to his hand. Well, he did kind of save her and helped out defeating that villain. Maybe she could trust him. Though no one could be as great as Ladybug, so she won't rely on him too much. He was only a newbie after all.

"…. Chloé Bourgeois. The daughter of the major… Well you can forget that last part. You can just remember me as the extremely beautiful princess you saved."

Vulpino couldn't help but chuckle. Beautiful princess? Her? She's more like the evil queen. To remember her like that is even worse than remembering her as the daughter of the major. Though maybe he could just play along with her, he doesn't want her to be on his bad side as Vulpino as well. That would only cause double the headache.

"Well then _princess_ , ready to go down?"

When Chloé nodded, he gently grabbed her arm to help her stand up. Her legs seems to be still wobbly like some spaghetti, so he lifted her up in bridal style right away.

"Hold on to me tight, I don't want you to fall after all. You don't look well, so I will just bring you home. You said you were the daughter of the major, so you must live in the hotel, Le Grand Paris, right?"

"Hold on, who said you could just bring me h-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Vulpino already jumped. Chloé just had to cling to him, which was pretty shameful. She would rather let Ladybug bring her home than this unknown newbie hero. For now she would just endure it till she's home.

"You can open your eyes now you know. We've already arrived. Make sure you rest well and don't skip school okay? Then, goodbye _princess_."

"Wait!"


	12. You're Not That Bad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Whooo, here's already a new chapter~! :3 Enjoy reading!

“Wait!”

She suddenly grabbed on the arm of this fox hero without even realizing she did so. She didn’t know what was coming over to her, why she stopped someone she didn’t know. However, there was this tingling feeling inside of her. As if she needed to say something to him. It was on the edge of her tongue, but the words wouldn’t come out.

There was this silence between them. Vulpino turned around when Chloé stopped him and expected her to say something to him. However, she didn’t say a single word after stopping him. He wondered why she would even stop him if she got not to say.

She looked at him in such a… strange way. Her mouth opened sometimes and closed again, her eyes pierced into his. As if she didn’t want to let go of him. She looked somehow desperate. There must’ve been something on her mind that she needed to tell him. He never saw her like this before, it just made him wonder… If she was maybe having a fever? Her cheeks were soft red, her eyes looked so tired. She didn’t look well at all, though she did say that she wasn’t feeling well during school. Yet she was somehow around the Eiffel Tower, instead of being at home. She sure was a strange girl.

“T…”

Almost, she was almost able to say it. She slightly looked away, feeling very ashamed about what she was about to do. She never felt like this before. What was this feeling? She was feeling nervous. Her left hand, which was her free hand, was grabbing on her own pants, trying to clench on something. She didn’t realize that her cheeks were glowing red, while she was trying to gather some… courage?

“Th…thank you for saving me.”

Done, she finally said it. It was so embarrassing to do so though. It was as if she lost a bit of her pride when she said something like that. Even though she was mumbling it, she hoped that Vulpino heard what she said so she didn’t need to repeat it.

There was this silence between them again. They could only hear the soft rustling of the trees, which was caused by the wind. From time to time they could hear some cars pass by.

The silence was killing her. She didn’t even dare to look up to Vulpino. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Shouldn’t he be like “no problem” in this situation and just leave? Why was he still standing there? Why did this even make her feel so uncomfortable? Maybe she shouldn’t have thanked him after all. Maybe she was indeed ill, this was so unusual of her.

“Pfft.”

Chloé looked up when she heard that soft chuckle. She saw that Vulpino was holding back his laughter, which made her feel very confused. However, she was mostly offended. She didn’t realize she was still holding on to Vulpino, but she eventually let go and instead she clenched both her hands into fists and glared at this so-called hero.

“What are you laughing at?!”

He chuckled once again, before clearing his throat. He didn’t mean to offend Chloé, at least not now when she was being quite nice. It would be nice if she could be like this to everyone else as well.

“Nothing, I was just taken aback to be thanked. I’m sorry that I laughed. _I feel very honored to be thanked by you._ ”

Of course, he was being quite sarcastic with the last sentence. Though if he would say something like that, Chloé would forgive him. She was quite easy to figure out after all.

“Hmpf, you better be. I usually don’t thank someone.”

Well, that wasn’t a good thing, was it? Though this was still Chloé, it would be very weird if she did thank people regularly. Which made him slightly worried if she was really alright. Since he was worried, he took a step closer to her to inspect her.

“W-what?”

As soon as Vulpino took a step closer to her, she automatically took a step back. Why was he even getting so close to her anyways? And he also got this weird expression on his face. Even though she couldn’t see his eyebrows, she could see him frowning at her.

“I think you should ask a doctor to check on you just in case. Your face is totally red; I think you have a fever. You also look very tired. You should head to bed right away… Well, I will be leaving now then. I hope you will get better. Bye.”

Vulpino turned around while waving her goodbye. He hoped that she would let him leave this time. Luckily she did leave him alone so he could go home. Weird. He was actually worried about Chloé. Well, maybe that was because he was a hero, so he should care about everyone? It would be nice thought if Chloé could act nice more often instead of being some spoiled princess. Oh, well, instead of thinking about her, it might be better to think about what he should do with Marinette. She said she was having a crush on Adrien. Adrien was a great guy, but so was Chat Noir. Marinette seemed to hold some strong feelings for Chat as well. Maybe he should ask Adrien what he thought about Marinette before he would try to bring Chat and Marinette together. He told himself that he would support Chat, but… what should he do? Marinette and Adrien were his friends as well and if they would like each other… Then… Well, he wouldn’t know who he should support.

xxx

Chloé was still staring in the distance after Vulpino left her. What was this feeling? It was as if something in her heart was melting. She felt like she somehow softened up to people… Her father always told her that she should hold her head high and be prideful. _“Never let them show your weakness,”_ he said. She always thought that kindness would be a waste. Once you were kind to someone, you could also get easily taken advantage of. Adrien was proof of that. He was too kind to everyone. That kindness would lead to doom. Not everyone deserved kindness so easily. It was not something you could get for free. When someone was kind to everyone, that person could easily get broken…

At least… that was what she thought.

Heroes were always liked by their kindness and selflessness. In the end, heroes always won. Ladybug, Vulpino… They were both so kind to her, they both saved her. Vulpino even cared about her health. However, those kinds of heroes would always get a weakness. Family, friends, people they cared about. Once they were in danger, they would give up everything. Then it would be the heroes’ loss, right?

Was being kind enough to win over someone’s heart? Many cruel people lived in this world. Once they saw their flaw of those kind people, they could attack them without hesitation. That was why she should be confident, prideful and… maybe mean. Besides, no one deserved her kindness anyways. And if they would break down just because some of her criticism, that would only proof how weak people could be.

But…

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be kind to some people. Vulpino seemed to care about her as well. Well of course everyone cared about her, Sabrina was even all over her. Though she never truly opened herself up for someone, but somehow, she felt like Vulpino could understand her. Maybe it was alright for her to open up to him.

Besides that, since Vulpino was still new, the chance of becoming his buddy would be higher. How fantastic would that be, to be friends with a hero? She would become super famous! No one would ever speak against her anymore if she had a hero friend backing up for her!

Just thinking about what great things she could achieve with a friend like that made her laugh. She was already excited to meet him again. He already cared about her today, when they met each other for the first time if the other incident didn’t count. Maybe he was already falling for her charms. Then that would be even easier to let him do what she wanted. She could totally brag this to everyone and everyone would admire her again! They would all over her like some servants to a queen.

Maybe she should try to akumatized someone, so she would be able to meet Vulpino again. Though that was a very horrible thing to do and she wouldn’t like that. Another option would be to search on the internet or the Ladyblog to see if there was any information about him. Maybe she could let someone make some merchandise of him and then sell it. Not only would Vulpino get famous, she would also get rich! Not that she was poor or anything, but gaining some more pocket money wouldn’t hurt. She always wanted to buy some new shoes or more limited edition Ladybug figures.

Besides, adding some Vulpino merchandise to her collection wouldn’t hurt. Maybe she could ask someone to first draw her something, like a design for some merchandise. However, once she looked on the blog, there didn’t seem to be many pictures of Vulpino. Many were just some vague pictures of him. It would be difficult to find any good reference then.

“So even Alya wasn’t able to capture a good picture of him huh… What a disappointment. Well, I didn’t expect much from that girl.”

She sighed and thought about something else. Maybe one of her classmates saw him and took a good picture of him… Wait, maybe Nathaniel could even draw Vulpino if she described him. And he was in her class as well when Vulpino appeared for the first time, right? Maybe he could draw a design for her!

“Chloé, you’re just a genius like always.”

xxx

Chloé went to bed early and had her beauty sleep. The next day, she felt great. She grinned to herself when she thought about her brilliant plan to get closer to a hero. And besides that, she realized something very crucial. If she would get closer to Vulpino, she could also get closer to Ladybug! Sometimes it even surprised her how intelligent she could be.  

She was also in better terms with Nathaniel now. He treated her better yesterday than before, what he should’ve done in the first place. But she would forgive him for that if he would draw her Vulpino. She secretly prayed that he saw that great hero too. Or else she would just wait at night and call for him when she would see him patrolling in her neighborhood. She sometimes saw Ladybug and her sidekick patrolling at night, though Ladybug always seemed to ignore her whenever she called for her. Well, maybe it wasn’t ignoring, maybe she just didn’t hear her.

“Ah, good morning Chloé. You seem to be in a better shape now, huh.”

Nathaniel said as soon as Chloé approached his seat again. He only glanced at her for a second, before looking away. He wondered if this would become some daily thing. Every morning she would come to his seat. Though he hoped she would just leave him alone after yesterday. Didn’t he already apologize to her? What else did she want from him? Well, however she would act to him, he could handle it. He didn’t want to pay much attention to her, so he was just doodling in his sketchbook.

“… Move aside, I will sit next to you.”

She wanted to see his drawing skills after all. Even though she already saw them once with that drawing of him and Marinette, but maybe his art style changed or improved. Besides that, she was curious if he was still so head over heels about Marinette. She didn’t understand why he would like someone like her. So, even though she was curious, she secretly hoped that she wouldn’t come across a drawing about that baker girl or else it would piss her off.

Nathaniel almost dropped his pencil when she said that. Did she like to torture him so much? She wanted to sit next to him so she could torture him even more? Why would she even go that far? He was being kind to her yesterday! Was this his fate or some kind of punishment? Would she always stick her nose in his business from now on? And she was even ordering him around. He wasn’t her servant or someone like Sabrina.

“Hold on, what right do you have to order me around? You can’t just- “

Chloé was getting slightly impatient, so she just pushed him aside and sat next to him. She glared at him, which made him shut up for a while. Then Nathaniel just sighed and leaned on his hand. It didn’t seem like he could chase her away, so he would give up.

“What about Sabrina?”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

Sabrina only had her as friend, so she would never oppose to her decisions. Sabrina would surely understand her. It wouldn’t be a big deal for her to sit on her own only for today.  

“So? What do you want from me this time?”

Of course, Chloé wouldn’t just sit next to him for nothing. She wasn’t like that. They were not having some tea time with each other after all. And before yesterday they were like enemies to each other. He wouldn’t think that just because he was just a bit nice to her yesterday, they were all friends together now. Ugh, that would even suck. He didn’t want her to cling to him like how she did with Adrien. Not that that would happen in the first place. She seemed like the girl who would go to people and befriend them when it would also benefit her.

“Can’t I just sit here without wanting anything?”

“No.”

That answer made her slightly annoyed and she felt offended by that as well. However, he wasn’t wrong. She did sit next to him because she wanted something from him. Maybe she should still play nice though. Nathaniel was quite a complicated guy. Though Marinette was even worse.

“Fine, I just want to see what you’re drawing. I’m someone with great sense of art, I could give you some critics to become even better. So, feel honored and hand me over your sketchbook.”

Did she even hear herself talking? Nathaniel couldn’t help but look dumbfounded at her. He would love to push her away and hope she would never bother him again. What was with her and ordering people around. Couldn’t see at least ask nicely to him if she was just curious about his drawing? Geez, what a drama queen.

“No way, why would I show you my sketchbook when you’re ordering me around like that. First you forced your way to my seat and now you’re demanding my sketchbook? Besides what critics? I remember the last time when you looked at my drawing, you were making fun of it and said something embarrassing while the whole class was listening. I bet you never felt so ashamed as I did on the day you saw that drawing of me and Marinette.”

What, now he was blaming everything on her? How could he blame her for only pointing out that it was him and Marinette? At least she didn’t tell him to go to the headmaster for doodling during class.

“Well, excuse **me** for just pointing out the obvious! **You** shouldn’t doodle during class anyways!”

“Says the one who’s always on her phone during class. As if **you** pay any attention to class!”

“ **You both** should pay attention to my class.”

Miss Bustier went to their seat and put down some papers with assignments in front of them. Even though she was annoyed by their conversation, she still sounded nice and calm. More than being annoyed, she was being worried about their future. As a teacher, she was also responsible for them paying attention to the classes.

“Hand over your sketchbook and phone please. I will give them back later, though you should stay here after school and finish those assignments before you can go home. Really now, not only are you two always arguing with each other and not paying attention to the lessons, your grades are **also** horrible. I’ve made some assignments for you which would be useful for the next test. And Chloé, I’ve talked with your father before. He will leave you in my care, so there’s no need for you to call him later. For now, pay attention, alright?”

Miss Bustier smiled and went back to the front of the class teaching her lesson after she took Nathaniel’s sketchbook and Chloé’s phone. Once she left their seat, Nathaniel chuckled.

“Pfft, now you can’t go to your daddy and complain about it. Life is not fair huh, drama queen.” 

“Ugh shut up you tomato head. She also took **your** sketchbook, in case you forgot. And we both have to stick together to make those stupid assignments.”

Nathaniel picked up the papers and looked over the assignments. Then he looked at Chloé with a grin.

“Ah, I can solve them in no problem. So, I will go home earlier. Kinda sucks when Sabrina does all your homework huh.”

“You know… I really want to hit you, stupid tomato boy.”

Nathaniel softly chuckled once more and looked in front of him. At least he planned to pay attention to the class now. Besides, once he would work on something serious, he could do it.

“Heh, you call me stupid? I think you’re more the stupid one. I bet you can’t solve any problem without having a headache.”

Even without looking at Chloé, he could already feel her anger boil. Ah, somehow it was pretty fun to make her so mad. Serves her right. He knew that Sabrina would do all her homework, well, everyone in class knew. He quite respected miss Bustier for acting instead of just seeing her students fail. Maybe he should just do his best on his tests as well to make her happy. Well, he would usually do better in her classes than in science classes anyway.

“I will show you I can do it.”

Chloé mumbled angrily and looked in front of her. She tried to pay attention to the class as well, but she easily got bored listening to everything. How come her plan was totally ruined? All she wanted was to see his drawings and request him to draw something for her. She thought they were on good terms, but now they end up fighting again. Ugh, she could not get along with this guy at all. Maybe she should’ve hired some other artist in the first place. That would be way easier than dealing with him. And now she even had to stay longer at school! Without her phone, class was so boring she could fall asleep. However, before she would even fall asleep, she needed to say one last thing to Nathaniel.

“I really hate you, Nathaniel Kurtzberg.”

Nathaniel glanced at Chloé for a short moment and then smiled. Maybe it wasn’t so half bad to hang out with Chloé. She could be amusing when she couldn’t fight back to him and gets all frustrated because of that.

“Don’t worry drama queen, I hate you too. Seems like we got at least one thing in common.”


	13. After School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: I got now a beta, Tjikicew. Thanks to him, my chapter is way better than before. So I hope this and the future chapters would read more pleasant. x3 After this chapter, I will put the credits below. )

To think she, Chloé Bourgeois, had to sit next to this red-haired arrogant rude artist the whole day. This was pure torture. Not only that, even her phone was confiscated. Now she needed to do her assignments, but like Nathaniel said, she didn’t understand anything. Just looking at the first problem already gave her a headache. She glanced at Nathaniel who seemed to work seriously on his assignments. She didn’t want to admit it, but if she wanted to go, she might need his help. Or should she try to, fill everything out and make it look like she did her best. She could attempt to guess everything or maybe, even write something random.

“You seem to be troubled. Want my help, drama queen?”

Nathaniel grinned as he watched Chloé intensely. She on the other hand, pouted and looked at her paper instead. She won’t admit defeat, not to him.

“Stop that. At least leave out that ‘drama’ part. And **no** , I don’t need the help from someone like **you**.”

She would prove herself, she would make him go away. He would admire her if she finishes everything before him. With that mindset, she started to write whatever came in her mind when she read the questions.

Nathaniel was surprised how serious Chloé appeared. What do you know, she really worked on those assignments on her own. Maybe she could do it if she put her mind to it. Well, not that he truly cares about her. He would just finish his own work, hand in those assignments and get his sketchbook back before Chloé is done.

xxx

“Well, I’ve finished. So, I’m leaving. See you tomorrow, _queen_.”

He grinned one more time, just to show off he wrapped up the tasks this quickly. There was no way that Chloé would be done by now as well. So, he didn’t even glance back and just went down to deliver the assignments to miss Bustier. He did feel quite bad leaving Chloé alone, maybe he should wait for her or help her after all? Nah, Chloé said she was fine doing it on her own. She didn’t need his help, so hey there was no need to reach out to her and help her. 

“Wait! I’ve completed them too!”

Chloé had instantly risen.  She smiled brightly and proudly at Nathaniel.  Even though she might have made a lot of mistakes, she still had finished it. Her hand hurt excruciatingly, but she wouldn’t complain about it. It was worth it to see that dumbfounded face on Nathaniel.

“I told you I could do it. I’m Chloé Bourgeois after all. I only let Sabrina do all my work so she would get smarter and rest my brain. It’s good for her to learn new things, when I know everything already.”

Nathaniel was still speechless. He never thought she would be this fast. He thought she wasn’t but some stupid rude selfish spoiled evil queen, but maybe she wasn’t that stupid. The other characteristics would always be part of her though.

“Show me… Show me your assignments then.”

He held his hand out, so Chloé could hand them over. She might have just blurted it out, bluffed even, because she didn’t want to be left alone. However, that would be, strange. She might not want to spend more time with him, so maybe she didn’t lie this time. Though he still wanted to confirm it and check if she didn’t just answered it randomly.

“No way, you can’t command me, _tomato boy_.”

She almost hissed at him. There was no way she would hand them over. She was sure Nathaniel would check them and maybe even correct them. She got no time for that. So, she pushed Nathaniel aside and ran downstairs. Step by step, she would get closer to miss Bustier. She would hand those papers in and then, **then** she could finally get her hands-on Nathaniel’s sketchbook.

She could hear Nathaniel calling after her, but she ignored him. She would just run full speed to the teachers room. No one could stop her. No one. She **will** get her hands on that sketchbook, no matter what.

“Oh Chloé. Is there something the matter? Any questions to the assignments?”

Miss Bustier glanced up from her desk. She was checking the homework of her students. She was already in a good mood to see that everyone was doing well on their homework, even Kim improved. Maybe Max helped him. Max, Sabrina and Adrien were the top students in her class and she was very proud of them. However, she wished that everyone could do as well.

“No Miss, I’ve resolved all of them!”

“As in, solved, Chloé?”

Miss Bustier expression became as dumbfounded as Nathaniel’s had been, which offended Chloé immensely. Did they think she was that stupid? She was also smart, so smart she didn’t even know.

“Let me check.”

Miss Bustier smiled brightly, she was so proud of Chloé working so hard. Maybe she just needed a push to work seriously on her schoolwork.  She started to review, but soon her face fell. In the end, she sighed slightly.

“Chloé, I’m going to red pencil all your answers by tomorrow. I will return them to you and you should correct your mistakes. You can’t just write what pops up into your head. You should put some thought in those questions. And if you don’t understand, search it up in your books.”

What? How dare she talk like that! She did very well! At least she finished it on her own, instead of asking for Nathaniel’s help. She wouldn’t bent that low as to ask for help.

Miss Bustier quickly scanned all the papers and smiled slightly to Chloé. Every question was answered, so maybe she had worked seriously on this. She opened her drawer and took Chloé’s phone out.

“Well, you finished everything, so that’s good. You can have your phone back and go home, Chloé.”

As soon as miss Bustier held out her phone, Chloé almost snatched it out of her hand. She just missed her phone so much. Though, her phone wasn’t the only thing that caught her attention. She gazed down at Nathaniel’s sketchbook and smiled, in what she hoped to be a convincing way, to her teacher.

“Can I have Nathaniel’s sketchbook as well? I will return it to him.”

“There’s no need for that, Nathaniel is already here.”

Miss Bustier nudged her head towards Nathaniel’s direction and smiled kindly to him. Wondering why Chloé would be interested to have Nathaniel’s sketchbook. However, she understood the displeasure it would cause Nathaniel.  She doubted he’d allow her to hand the sketchbook over to Chloé.

“Are you done with your assignments as well, Nathaniel?”

Nathaniel smiled graciously back to his teacher and nodded. He placed the assignments on her desks and she glanced at them. Her smile didn’t disappear, instead, she seemed rather proud.

Just looking at the first few answers, she could already see that Nathaniel got the gist of the questions. He did very well. Maybe this time he would get a better grade for the test as well. She couldn’t stop beaming as she took Nathaniel’s sketchbook out of her drawer.

“Well done, Nathaniel. Here’s your sketchbook. You both can leave now, be safe going home okay?”

Chloé glared at the sketchbook before nodding. She would get her claws on that sketchbook.  After all this time, she didn’t want to give up. Even though she could just go to another artist, there are many freelancers anyway, she absolutely **needed** to see what’s inside the sketchbook.

Nathaniel noticed that Chloé was still gazing at his sketchbook. Even after they walked out of school, she kept ogling his schoolbag from time to time. He put his treasured sketchbook in his bag so it wouldn’t get snatched out of his hands. However, he was forever afraid Chloé would try to steal it. He sighed and pointed to the park. He didn’t want her irritating him again about this tomorrow. If he understood her well enough, she wouldn’t give up so easy. She was a crazy, stubborn girl after all.

“Let’s go to the park. I will show you my sketchbook. Only this once, okay?”

Chloé crossed her arms and glared at Nath, as if he said something wrong again. Then she averted her eyes by moving her head to the right while Nath was standing on her left.

“Hmpf, as if I want to thumb through your stupid sketchbook. However, since you’re offering it so nicely to me now, I will just peek a little bit. It will only happen today! I don’t need to see it again in the future.”

Nathaniel rolled his eyes and walked to the park, without even waiting for Chloé to follow. He sat on the bench and got his sketchbook out of his bag.

“You know, I still don’t get why you want to view my sketchbook. Can’t you just tell me the reason without lying?”

“I’m not lying. I just want to see it okay.”

Chloé snatched the sketchbook out of his hands and leafed through the pages slowly. She was being careful when she flipped page to page. She didn’t want to rip anything after all… Not that she cared anyways.

“They’re… quite good.”

“Thanks, I never though you would praise me.”

Nathaniel smiled sincerely and was quite happy that even Chloé admitted he was good at drawing. That was a pleasure to hear. She always insulted him, so this was nice. If only she could be friendlier and do this more often, then people would like her more.

“So, what do you actually want? You don’t just want to browse through my sketchbook, right?”

Chloé blushed a bit, realizing how stupid she had been to praise this guy. Though… seeing his smile wasn’t so bad. It gave her a good feeling. She liked that.

She knew Nathaniel wouldn’t believe her whatever she said, which was quite annoying.  She rolled her eyes before sighing.  She got no choice but to tell why she wanted to view the drawings.

“Fine, I just wanted to request a drawing. I want you to draw Vulpino.”

“Vulpino? Why do you want me to draw him?”

Nath felt a mix of flattering and confusion.  Why would Chloé want him to draw Vulpino?  Had she a hidden agenda?  He glared suspiciously at her and wondered about her intentions.  But could she be, his first fan?  That would be quite sweet, maybe… if Chloé stopped being clingy and just be kind to him, then he would be glad, very glad.

“Not telling you! It’s a secret and something personal. So, are you going to do it or not? Considering I want you to show the real deal, if you do draw him.  His abs, the different shades of his suit, his tail, his ears, ... all of what defines him!  What makes him, Vulpino!”

Did it really matter to him?  He might ask her as Vulpino. Who knows. Hopefully Chloé wasn’t planning any mischief. That had him a little worried, but drawing himself is a pretty funny idea actually.

“Well fine. You’ll stop bugging me if I draw it, alright?”

“As if I ever irritated you.”

Chloé crossed her arms again and gazed forwards, neglecting Nathaniel. She acted annoyed, but was actually quite happy to hear that he was willing to do it.

“You even gripe me now.”

Nath sighed and grabbed his sketchbook back. He would just try to finish it today, so Chloé would leave him alone soon. It was getting late though, he hoped he could finish it anyway.

“You should be honored that I spend my precious time with you, instead of treating me so disrespectful. Besides that, how much?”

“How much what?”

“How much do you want to get paid, you idiot. Nothing in this world is for free. You’re an artist, isn’t that some kind of a job or something. We’re not even friends, so I bet you weren’t going to draw for free. So? How much? I have enough money to pay you, poor tomato. Aren’t all artists broke? I will be your patron, so you can feed yourself.”

In all honesty, Nathaniel never expected to be compensated for his work. He hardly suspected that Chloé would treat him this seriously, all business-like when she talked money. Maybe she would become some bossy company woman in the future. Though she was still insulting him.

“I don’t receive pocket money, so you’re not wrong there. I also don’t work yet, so yes, I’m broke.  However, I’m still a kid and I’m not sure if I’m allowed to accept your payment, without my parents’ permission. So, it would be for free.”

“Age doesn’t matter when it comes down to business. Though you are right about getting authorization by your parents. However, as I’m Chloé Bourgeois. Your parents will consent after hearing my name. So, don’t worry. I suggest 30€. You’re fine with that?”

What?! 30€? That’s a lot. He never got money from selling his art, so he wasn’t sure if that was over- or underpaid. However, he considered it a lot of money. Should he just accept this? It was kind of a business agreement. He would work for Chloé, by drawing Vulpino.

“Okay, suck up and accept.  Regardless, I don’t take no for an answer. I’m heading for home now, I expect that drawing soon.”

Well, well, wasn’t she seemly today? Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. Though should he even consider this decent or professional? He didn’t know, but he’d bet that she must’ve handled some business or something? Or perhaps she just shopped a lot.

“I still wonder why she wants me to draw Vulpino…”


	14. Truth Seeker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm sorry for the late update. I will be quite busy with school till 22th of June. After that I would update on the regular schedule, so every Saturday.

"Yes! My plan worked. Not per plan, but I was still able to get a drawing from tomato boy."

Chloé giggled to herself as she was rolling on her bed while hugging her pillow. After she got her hands on that drawing, her chances becoming famous would go up. Being friends with a newbie is way easier than who are already famous, though she's already besties with Ladybug. However, it wouldn't hurt to get even closer to her and proudly present that to the world. She would be known as the bestie of Ladybug! Unlike Lila, she wouldn't lie then.

xxx

As soon as Nathaniel got home, he opened his sketchbook and started to draw. It was quite funny to think he had to draw himself for **Chloé** of all people. He still wondered what she would do with the drawing. Wouldn't it veritably be better to ask for some journalist or great photographer if she wanted some details? Well, he wouldn't show himself so easily. He didn't like too much attention after all. Besides that, the real heroes are Ladybug and Chat Noir. He couldn't just take away their spotlight.

"Hey, don't you think Chloé started to get nicer by the day?"

Inarii flew out of Nathaniel's pocket and sat next to the sketchbook. Somehow her acting all nice, still bratty, but seemly felt weird. It was suspicious that she came to Nathaniel out of everyone to ask such a request. Though it wouldn't be so bad to for his partner to have a fan as well. He would be rather happy for him. Nathaniel needed some more love after all.

"I guess she isn't that hostile to me anymore. Maybe because I also started to act friendly to her."

xxx

Already a week had passed before he finally finished his drawing for Chloé. It took longer than Nathaniel expected to make an excellent drawing that would satisfy her. He would from time to time show her the work in process and she had some critic from time to time, but other than that she was absolutely pleased with it. During those days, she didn't sit next to him and when she did come to his table, she would ask about the drawing. However, lately she also asked about other things. Like what he planned to do with the money she gave him, what his plans were in his free time besides drawing, asking about his parents. She seemed to be more interested in him? He was genuinely curious if she honestly wants to be friends with him. Or she might plan something big against him. Who knows, Chloé is unpredictable.

"So, are you done with the drawing today, tomato head?"

Even though she may have some interest in him, she still hadn't used his first name at all without also adding his surname. Well, he got used to the nicknames she calls him, he also addresses her as drama queen or something similar. Besides that, Chat Noir also called him by some nicknames, so he didn't mind this.

"Yeah, I'm done with the drawing."

Nathaniel bowed slightly so he could grab the sketchbook out of his bag. He placed it on the table and flipped through the pages till he reached the commissioned drawing. When he was on the right page, he glanced to Chloé to see what her reaction would be. She appeared to be… very stunned? It was like she was perplexed or something. She kept staring at the drawing with her eyes wide. Her hand was against her mouth as if she wanted to hold back a scream by doing that.

Chloé couldn't help but have the urge to scream. The artwork was so stunning, she couldn't say anything at all for a few seconds. She wanted to scream and tell Nathaniel that it looked amazing. That it looked so realistic as if he took a picture of Vulpino. She knew that Nathaniel was more of the cartoonist, so she didn't expect him to draw realistic as well and in such a fascinating way. The previous time he showed the drawing, everything was still flat. The shading absolutely made everything pop up. Even the colors are spot on with the original. The texture seems so picturesque too! She couldn't help but just stare at it with awe. Though she shouldn't act all too happy about it, that would only represent herself as lame. So, she slowly closed her eyes and once she opened them, she pretended to be calm. Her amazed look got replaced by an expression as if she was uninterested.

"It looks good enough. You did a great job. As reward for doing an exceptional work, how about I treat you to a drink? Or maybe some ice cream?"

"Pfft, you can be more honest about what you think about this illustration, but sure, I won't say no to that offer. How about some ice cream?"

Nathaniel chuckled as he thought Chloé was being amusing now. They both seemed to be in a good mood, since Chloé offered to treat him and he even accepted it. Well, it wouldn't hurt to hang out with Chloé even after school.

xxx

One young lady, one woman, one man. They were all sitting together in the living room. Tears were falling from the young lady's eyes. Her brunette bangs almost covered her eyes as she gazed down. The others were gazing down as well. It was silent. Only the sound of the ticking from the clock and the sound of soft breathing could be heard.

"Is it true?"

The brunette lady mumbled under her breath. She used her voice so softly as she didn't want to be heard, as if she was being careful. She balled her hands into a fist so tightly, that it made her fingers almost white. She tried her best to hold back her tears, but she couldn't.

"Mom…Dad… Is it true?"

She spoke louder and gazed at the man and woman sitting across of her. Her voice sounded hoarse, as if she had been screaming for a long time. She stared hopefully at them, her eyes were almost begging for them to tell her it wasn't true. However, none of them looked her in the eye. Her father leaned his face on his hands, while his upper body was leaning forward. Her mother fixed her eyes on her hands.

"I ask you if it's true! Please tell me it isn't… I'm not… truly auntie's real daughter, right?"

It was her so-called mother who finally opened her mouth. She took a deep breath before speaking and locked her eyes on her supposed daughter. In her eyes, sadness could be seen. What does that mean? Did it genuinely mean that she's not her real daughter?

"It's…true, Tia. Your aunt had some troubles in the past, so I raised you instead. I never told you, because I truly cared about you! You're my daughter now, so there was no real need to tell you. I considered you as my own child, not my little sister's child. She… didn't want you. Instead of making you an orphan, I wanted to raise you as my own…"

Tia didn't listen to her anymore. When her supposed mother said, it was true, her mind closed off from the real world. She didn't want to hear excuses. She didn't want to hear the reason. She didn't want to hear anything at all regarding this. Thus, she stood up. Tears were flowing down as she glared at her parents.

"You are all liars! I hate you!"

She shouted out of frustration and ran out of the room, out of the house. She heard someone calling after her, but she didn't stop. She kept on running, getting outside, leaving the place that she considered as _her_ home. She ended up in the park and cried her heart out under a tree.

"Lies… Everything is a lie…"

She softly mumbled to herself. She still didn't want to believe she was not their real daughter. All those seventeen years, they lied to her, they deceived her. Why didn't they tell her? Was she not supposed to find out? Was she not worth the truth? What is… even the truth?

She glanced down at her locket necklace, opening the locket to see their family picture. Her with her father, mother and her older brother. Did he… know about this too? Did her aunt… or her actual mother honestly wanted to get rid of her? Every time she visited her, she looked so weirdly at her. She was always curious why… Hence, this is what it meant? Didn't she want her after all those years?

Tia ripped the necklace off her and threw it on the ground. She didn't want to see her fake family anymore. She leaned her head on her knees and placed her hands on her head. She wanted to scream, but her voice couldn't escape out of her throat. It was hard to breath. Everything felt so suffocating. She felt like she was getting trapped. As if there was a cage around her, which gets smaller and smaller by the second. What was even her real home now? She had no place to go to.

If only her family hadn't keep her birth a secret. If only they told her the truth from the beginning. Would things have gone better? She kept wondering and wondering, while feeling cold and alone. If only someone could save her from her confusing state, from this dark pit she was in.

Little did she know that there was a certain black butterfly flying in the sky in search for her. Once it reached its destination, it approached the necklace on the ground. The black butterfly got absorbed and covered the whole necklace black. Tia looked up and stared in front of her as she suddenly heard a voice in her head. The skin color around her eyes changed into a redder brown color. A pink butterfly-shaped outline appeared in front of her eyes as well. She heard the voice of someone unknown. Who was he? Was he… her savior?

"Truth Seeker, I'm Hawk Moth. I'll give you powers. From now on, no one will lie to you ever again. You will make everyone tell the truth and even bring out their deepest secrets so no one would ever feel deceived and hurt again. At the same time, you need to find out the weakness of Ladybug and Chat Noir and bring me back their miraculous."

"Yes, Hawk Moth."

She smirked and stood up, making the red brown mark on her face and the outline disappear. She bowed down to grab her necklace and put it around her neck again. As soon as she did so, her whole body got covered into some dark energy. Her clothes transformed into a strapless long sleeved dress with rose patterns at the ruffled edges. The front of her dress reached to her knees and her sleeves became larger extending to her wrist. She wore a white butterfly-shaped mask and had white wings attached to her back. Her hair grew longer down to her knees and turned white as well.

As soon as her transformation was complete, she flew to the first person she spotted. She smiled as she was floating in front of him. He on the other took a step back out of fear. She put her hand against her left cheek and tilted her head slightly to the left, while smiling kindly to the guy.

"Where are you going, young man?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm busy. I have to go."

The guy didn't want to get involved with this strange looking woman. She seemed dangerous even though she appeared like an angel, maybe she was an akumatized villain again. Hopefully Ladybug and Chat Noir would arrive to save the day. He wasn't busy, but maybe this woman will let him go if he made that excuse. He quickly turned around to leave, to run away from this villain. However, she stood right in front of him again. As if she moved faster than the speed of light.

" **LIES!"**

Suddenly the green brown eyes of Secret Revealer glowed red and her hair went all different ways, as if gravity didn't exist for her hair. Everything that was white, turned into black. She flew closer to him, which made him take a step aside, ending up standing against the glass of a window shop. Her hair looked like black snakes, wanting to take a bite at him. She tilted her head to the right and gave him a big smile with wide eyes. Her eyes were still glowing red. She had that look of a psychopathic woman who was ready to murder someone.

"You're not telling the truth, are you?"

"I'm sorry! I lied! I just wanted to get away. Please let me go!"

Her hair went down again, as if gravity came back. She smiled kindly now, while everything changed to white again. Her hair, her wings, her dress and mask. She threw a white feather towards the guy's chest, which got absorbed.

The guy was shocked to see how the feather got inside of him. However, he felt no different. He held out his hands and checked his body out, there was no difference in appearance either. He looked at the woman in front of him all confused, which made her smile broader instead.

"So where do you plan to go?"

"N-nowhere particular, I'm just going home."

He lied to her again, he was in fact planning to visit his best friend, but why would he tell her about that? She also didn't seem to have some special powers. Seems like the only thing she could do is change all black and make people scared. However, he got that wrong…

Just when she turned all black again, he felt something in his chest. It was so painful that he fell on his knees. It was as if he couldn't breathe no longer. It was as if his heart suddenly stopped beating.

"Home… So, you have a home huh. Liars like you don't deserve such a place. If you don't want to suffer, tell me the truth. Or am I not worth the truth!"

Again, her eyes were glowing red. It was as if they expressed her anger. Quickly the guy told her he was planning to go to see his friend. After that, the pain lifted, however, his left arm suddenly disappeared.

"For every lie you tell, your limps will disappear. One after another. Liars shouldn't need to exist after all."

She smiled satisfied as she saw him totally panicking about his arm. Even Hawk Moth seemed to be happy about this as she could hear him laugh.

"Good, good. With this, Ladybug and Chat Noir will surely appear! Even Vulpino would appear, so take his miraculous as well if you're taking them anyway."

"Yes, Hawk Moth."

She said and flew up, high in the sky. Before she would go to her destination, she would spin around and throw the feathers to as many people as she could. Many people got hit by them and many people seemed to suffer at it. She could hear the screams of the liars from below. As she heard them, she made an expression as if she was disgusted of humanity.

"So many liars..."

Her outfit started to get darker and darker. However, it wasn't pitch black like before. Which means there were also some honest people in this city. She wouldn't take that for granted though, her outfit was already dark gray, so most people she hit were liars.

xxx

"So can you tell me what you plan to do with the drawing now? I'm really curious you know."

Nathaniel and Chloé got out of the ice cream parlour. Nathaniel got a cherry ice cream cone, while Chloé got a vanilla honey frozen yoghurt, which she ate out of a paper cup. Chloé poked her spoon in her frozen yoghurt and looked at Nathaniel slightly annoyed. She was about to tell him it was private, until she suddenly saw something flying towards Nathaniel at full speed.

"Look out!"

She quickly stood in front of him and got hit by the unknown white object in her chest instead. She had her eyes closed and her arms spread, while still holding the plastic spoon on one hand and the paper cup on the other. She slowly opened her eyes to look at herself. She expected that something would happen to her, but nothing felt or appeared different. Was it just her imagination?

Nathaniel looked confused at Chloé. He noticed that something was going towards his direction as well, however Chloé responded faster than him. She even tried to protect him, but why? He took a step forward to take a better look at her. She didn't seem to be hurt, so was it just their imagination? It couldn't be right? She saw it as well.

"Are you alright Chloé? You're not hurt, are you? Why did you even try to protect me?"

"I didn't protect you! Don't take it the wrong way, I don't like you at all. It was just- "

She wasn't even able to finish her sentence as she felt a pang in her chest. She let everything fall out her hands on the ground and placed her hands on her heart. She clenched her clothes tightly and fell on her knees.

"W-what is this?"

She breathed out heavily, as if it was hard to speak. She tried to take deep breaths, since she was feeling no air coming in her. She kept on breathing, but it felt like her heart wasn't pounding anymore. Why? Why was she feeling suddenly like this? Was it just a late after effect? She was fine just a while ago. Where did this huge pain come from?

"Liars, liars, liars. This city is full of filthy liars! Those who suffer of pain now told a lie. Only the truth will make your suffering stop. I am Truth Seeker and all of you liars should disappear!"

A loud voice echoed around the city. Nathaniel looked confused, to see where the voice came from. He scanned his surrounding and saw more people suffering the same state as Chloé. Some were crying loudly or screaming out of pain. Some lied down and curled themselves up into a ball, hoping that would help. There was something else he noticed. Someone was floating in front of the Eiffel Tower. It couldn't be anyone else than the one who caused this!

"Quickly Chloé, tell me the truth. It will relieve you from the pain."

At least, if he could trust what this Truth Seeker said. This would be very difficult for Chloé though, she wasn't an honest person. At least, if it was about something nice.

"F-fine…! I did protect you!"

The pain was too much for her, that even she would tell the truth, even if she didn't want to. She shouted out what she denied before and indeed, her pain disappeared, but…so did one of her legs.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta by Chatlovingshipper - tumblr & Tjikicew


	15. I'm Here For You, Chloé

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Whoops, I updated this a day too late. (/n\\) Thanks for waiting patiently for this new chapter! I will try to go back to my old schedule since summer holiday would begin soon for me. At least my exams ended. xD Now I have a question for my lovely readers. Do you wish to see more LadyNoir, Adrienette or both interactions in the future? c: You can also leave in the comments if you wish to see more of another character, for example Juleka, Nino, Sabrina, etc. Well, for now, enjoy reading~

Her eyes enlarged as she watched her right leg slowly disappear into thin air. Slowly with her trembling hand, she reached forward, where her leg was supposed to be. She waved it around, hoping that her leg only became invisible. However, she sensed nothing.

Suddenly she felt like her respiration was being cut off. She gasped for air, breathing in and out, in and out, but not a whiff entered her lungs. Her respiration only became more rapid, shallower as her heart started to race at an enormous speed. She kept waving her hand through the spot where her leg had been, as if she didn't want to accept the truth.

"Chloé. Look at me. Look at me, Chloé."

Nathaniel went down on one knee and leaned in. He wanted Chloé to face him and not pay attention at her vanished leg. His lips curled upwards, turning into a soft smile. Even though he looked composed, he was feeling horrible. It was all his fault that Chloé had to deal with this after all. He still wondered why she would even protect him, but that could wait. For now, he had to calm Chloé down. First, her respiration needed to be stable again.

"Chloé, take a deep breath. In… Out… In… Out…"

It was only when Nathaniel knelt in front of her, she gazed at him. Somehow just looking at him smiling like that made her feel safer. She listened to his gentle voice and inhaled and exhaled with his mantra, which made her respiration slower.

"It will be alright, Chloé. The heroes of Paris will come and save the day. Once Truth Seeker is defeated, your leg will return. For now, let's go to a safer place, okay?"

He held out his hand so Chloé could grab it. However, before that happened, he could hear her mumbling something. He leaned closer to her and tilted his head to the side.

"What did you say, Chloé?"

"I said… thanks."

Chloé avoided his eyes while she grabbed his hand. She tried to stand up, but even with support, it was hard to stand up on one foot. She wasn't used to standing up, having only one leg to support her after all. It was very heavy, even though her weight wasn't high, for her left leg it felt like her weight doubled as she was trying to stand up with Nathaniel's help. She felt quite ashamed to be in this situation, even more when she needed to rely on someone else. However, she was still thankful for his support.

Nathaniel pulled Chloé towards him and chuckled. Seems like Chloé still couldn't properly be thankful to someone. Not that he minds getting those kind of thanks, it was quite… a cute part regarding her. However, the curve on his lips turned upside down. His eyes narrowed slightly as he let Chloé lean on him, so it would be less tiring for her to stand on one leg.

"I… should actually be the one thanking you, Chloé. Thank you for taking the shot for me… and I'm sorry."

Because of him she's the one suffering now. As a hero, this hurts his pride a lot. He couldn't even properly protect someone, instead, someone he would never expect to shield him, safeguarded his person!

"You better be thankful. I expect you treating me to something nice next time, to make up for this. I do hope Ladybug, Vulpino and that sidekick will be here soon. I already miss my leg."

" _Though this isn't so bad either…"_ She thought as she leaned a bit more in to Nathaniel's chest. She was glad that he was there to help her out and didn't leave her alone or. For now, she only hoped for the heroes to arrive. She had faith in them, they will save the day and everything would turn back to normal. If she kept thinking this way, she'd feel much calmer. She shouldn't panic again, not like she was the one who could make that choice though. Her body just reacted on the sudden fear she'd undergo, even if she told herself to calm down, it wouldn't work. Much goes on in her mind, which made her especially restless. Even though this was the first time she experienced such a panic attack, she honestly hoped it would be the last.

Besides that, what should she do now? She couldn't lie anymore. Only thinking about experiencing that torture again made her body shiver. However, she got Nath with her now. Even though, if he wouldn't be here, she wouldn't need to talk so there would be no reason whatsoever to lie. But she would be totally lost if he wasn't staying by her side. Just realizing how thankful she truly was with him being there made her heart skip. It felt weird. Her heart belonged to Adrien, so why did she feel like she was experiencing the same thing with Nathaniel? Although they were starting to get along, she still disliked him. Mostly whenever he made fun of her. She hated that stupid smirk he got, him being all confident around her. She disliked how he talks back to her and most of all, she despised that he loves Marinette and how he talks about her. So, she loathed a lot of things about him. There was no way she would fall for him. Adrien was the one in her heart after all.

While Chloé was in her own world, Nathaniel was texting Marinette about the Akuma attack. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to contact Chat Noir, but when Ladybug is in town, so is Chat. Maybe they already noticed the attack, since there was so much commotion. Besides that, he was quite annoyed about the fact that Chloé saw his friend as just a sidekick instead of a great hero. Just hearing her referencing Chat Noir that way made his eyebrow twitch.

"You know, Chat Noir isn't Ladybug's sidekick or whatever. He's a hero himself, a great one even. So, don't belittle him. If you had to depreciate someone, then choose Vulpino. He's new to the team after all. He would be more likely to become a sidekick. If you don't treat Vulpino as a sidekick, then you shouldn't do that to Chat either… Anyways, wouldn't it be better for you to head home? It's dangerous out here!"

There was no time to argue about something like this. Chloé should call her driver to take her back home. If she would leave, not only would that be safer for her, but he would be able to transform as well. For now, he must try his best to protect this citizen one way or another in his civilian form. He wonders if Chat or Marinette were once in such situations as well. What did they do then?

"I don't want to. Just let me sit down on that chair there."

Chloé pointed towards the outdoor seating space from the ice-cream parlor they visited just a while ago. There it was again, her ordering tone. Nathaniel slightly rolled with his eyes and walked with her towards the chair, well, she was hopping towards it.

"Why? It's way too dangerous for you to stay here."

Even though he didn't think this to be a good idea, he still helped her to sit down. He glanced around to check the whereabouts of that akumatized villain. She was no longer floating in front of the Eiffel Tower. At least, he couldn't see it from where he was standing now.

"I'm staying here. End of story."

Chloé crossed her arms and appeared determined about her choice. She knew it was dangerous here, but there was someone she wanted to see, no matter what.

"Come on Chloé, don't be so stubborn. I can carry you home if I must. Why do you even want to stay here?"

Nathaniel couldn't leave her, nor could he leave any person in such state. It was either leaving Chloé or not defeating Truth Seeker. Well, since Chloé saved him, he had no other choice but to stay by her side. He would be a jerk if he just left her like this after all.

"That's none of your business, tomato head."

She wasn't lying, she just avoided answering the question and kept the answer for herself. That wouldn't count as lying, right? She didn't want Nathaniel to know why she wanted to stay in this dangerous zone so badly, it would be quite embarrassing to tell him. Who knows, maybe he would even judge her, though he had no right to do so. Besides, how dangerous could it be here? The chances that they would run into Truth Seeker again are slim. Yet, she had been pretty unlucky lately, so who knows. The only thing she could do was hoping for the villain not showing up.

While hoping Truth Seeker wouldn't appear, there she was, behind Nathaniel, her feet just inches above the ground. Her appearance was very weird as the colors of her clothes and hair seemed to change every second, from light to dark and back. She was holding one finger up and moved it from left to right, while she held her other hand on her elbow and shook her head with a smug expression.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can sense someone is hiding something~"

Right after she told that, Chloé felt something aching in her chest. It suddenly started to feel so heavy, so painful. The exact same feeling she got from the first time. But why? She didn't lie this time, so why did she feel this pain again? What did she do to deserve this?

"Oh my, seems like I forgot to mention something. You can't keep secrets either, unless you want to suffer~ Keeping secrets is the same as lying after all!"

Her eyes suddenly glowed red again, as if she remembered something that made her furious. She glared at the guy standing next to the blonde and looked at his chest.

"It seems like I didn't hit you, boy. Are you a liar, someone who holds many secrets or are you a rare one? An honest on-."

"For Vulpino! I want to see him again! That's why I want to stay!"

With squeezed eyes, Chloé breathed out in exhaustion as if she used up the last bit of her energy. Not noticing at all she interrupted the villain. She didn't want to experience this ordeal once more. She'd rather disappear altogether or shut her mouth forever if she could avoid this agony. She didn't even have the time to feel embarrassed, not that she cared by now. She was just relieved that the excruciating pain lifted away. This time her only other leg disappeared…

She quickly averted her eyes, not wanting to watch her leg vanish. She had to stay calm. She was sure the heroes will come and bring her legs back. She examined the sky for them and implored that she'd do anything to get her legs back or actually survive this predicament without any more suffering. She would try to become kind and stop being mean to anyone. Well, if they deserved it.

Nathaniel turned around, taken by surprise on what Chloé had shouted. So, she wanted to see Vulpino so badly? Gosh, if only he could duplicate himself now, then she might be able to leave. Wait… If Ladybug and Chat would arrive and distract Truth Seeker and Chloé. He could turn into Vulpino and make a replica of himself as Nathaniel! Chloé wouldn't be suspicious about his identity if that ever would arise, since she would see both of himself. Once he had taken Chloé out of danger, he would be able to save the day as well!

Truth Seeker was in no way pleased with the interruption, but she would let it slide for now. That red-haired boy seemed to be distracted by it, now she got a chance to hit him with her feather. Every liar should suffer, without any exceptions.

"Hold it right there, Truth Seeker!"

She tilted her head up, in the direction of the female voice. She saw a girl in red and black polka-dots, next to her a black clad cat like guy. The only ones they could be were of course Paris's heroes. She smirked at this pleasant surprise.

"Well well well, look what the cat dragged in~!"

She chuckled at her own joke, forgetting the redhead. Finally, she could repay Hawk Moth for giving her this marvelous power. She will get their miraculous and at the same time reveal who they truly are! In her mind, she could hear him laughing alongside with her. After their laugh, he'd order her to get their miraculous and of course would she obey.

"Let's reveal who you truly are! Even the greatest heroes could be liars!"

She raised her voice while her eyes widened, making her pupils appear small. Her eyes gave of this dangerous red glow, but a different kind than when she was furious. That smile, those eyes, her expression alarmed everyone to back away from her as she acquired the appearance of a madwoman. She flew upwards and spread her wings out at the same time extending her arms. The feathers floated around her, pointing their quills towards the heroes. Once she stretched one of her arms forward, the feathers dashed to their targets at tremendous speed.

"Hey! I'm not lion! I'm a cat!"

Chat yelled, sounding as if he was offended by it while he was spinning his staff at high speed, so it would become his shield against those feathers. Obviously, he tried to be funny, but his lady didn't seem so fond of his pun as she glared at him and gave that look of _"Not now, Chat"_. She sighed and concentrated on the fight again.

Ladybug observed the surroundings while spinning her yo-yo as a shield. She noticed that beyond their enemy, Nathaniel and Chloé were in this mess too. Even though she disliked Chloé, she felt a bit bad for her being in such a predicament. Though she felt even more pity for Nathaniel having to take care of Chloé and not being able to transform into his hero form at all.

" _There has to be something I can do to help him… If we keep up like this, we might never defeat Truth Seeker."_

Ladybug looked around, trying to think of a way to let Nathaniel run away, without making it seem suspicious. Maybe someone should bring Chloé to a safer place, so Nathaniel would have a higher chance to escape and change into Vulpino. With his fox fire, he might be able to recover everyone's state. His blue fire heals people or returns everything back to their original state after all. At least, that was what she understood from that fire incident last time.

"Chat, take Chloé to a safe place! I will handle this."

"Are you sure, my lady? Shouldn't we wait for Vulpino instead? This akumatized villain seems to be too strong to be handled alone by yourself. And what about Na- that red haired guy?"

Even though they saved Nathaniel once, he never mentioned his name, right? So, it would be weird if Chat would use his name, as if he knew him. Besides that, even though Nathaniel was capable of running away, he would still be in danger. Shouldn't he save both Chloé and Nathaniel instead? Though that might be difficult. How can he carry Chloé properly when she didn't have any legs?

"Should you two really worry about someone else instead of yourself~?"

Truth Seeker cackled like an evil queen, making the heroes hackles rise all over their body. She was no longer shooting those feathers from a single place. No, this time she flew in a circle around the heroes at full speed so they would have a harder time defending themselves. They would get hit without any doubt, it was just a matter of time now.

He had to go now! This was his chance while the akumatized villain was busy with the heroes. He hoped they'd be able to hold out. This villain proved to be tough. However, with his illusions, he could trick her with some duplicates. For now, he had to leave and take Chloé with him. He sure was glad that they arrived on time, just before he got hit by that Truth feather or worse.

"Chloé, we really need to go now."

He whispered while glaring sternly at Chloé. Even though he was flattered that she wanted to see Vulpino, he could not let her stay outside and in this danger zone. She shouldn't be selfish in this situation.

Now, how should he carry her? Both her legs disappeared, so he couldn't carry her with his hand under her thighs. Maybe he should attempt a piggyback? He should give that a try. It might be difficult or heavy. Maybe not too heavy since she obviously lost some weight when her legs disappeared.

"Chloé, wrap your arms around my neck. I will take you somewhere safe. And no buts. I'm sure you will see Vulpino another time, it's not like it's _that_ rare to see him."

He squatted down and turned his back to her. He cannot let her endanger herself again because of him. Besides, maybe he could heal her as Vulpino with his Fox Fire. For now, he will leave her inside some building and let Vulpino pick her up or something. Yeah, that sounded like a legit plan.

"...Fine." Chloé pouted.

She wished she could see Vulpino, but he didn't seem to be here yet. She sighed slightly as she wrapped her arms around Nathaniel and leaned on his back. There was something about this situation which made her heart beat faster. She actually wanted to get off his back, as she was afraid he might feel her heartbeat going like crazy.

"Hold tight."

He leaned further forward running towards another building a few meters away. He went inside a bookstore and watched around, it was empty by now. The people probably ran away when they heard the screams. However, being here would be the safest option to not getting hit. Unless she followed them in.

"Wait here, I will check how the situation is now."

Part of this bookstore was luckily also a café, so he was able to find a seat fast. He gently put her down on a couch and gazed out the window. There must be some backstreet he could hide to transform.

"Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I? Besides, wouldn't it be safer for you to stay here and wait with me for Ladybug to solve everything. You haven't been hit yet."

"Ah, don't worry about me. I will be quick. I just want to make sure if I could bring you all the way back to the hotel."

He smiled gently and quickly ran out the door. Next to the bookstore seemed to be an alley. Chloé had her back to the window, so she couldn't see where he would go. She hopefully trusts him completely by now. He wishes she didn't think he'd left her behind and ran away by himself like some coward.

Before transforming, he examined the surroundings, just in case someone might be hiding there. Who knows. In this situation, people could be seeking refuge almost everywhere. It was so confusing with everyone running and screaming.

"Is it safe now?"

Inarii popped his head out of his pocket and once Nathaniel nodded, he flew in front of the redhead. He spent most of this whole day in that pocket. He had to admit, he was totally bored while he could do nothing in there. He did notice somethings regarding Chloé though.

"We need to be quick! Inarii, transform me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta by Chatlovingshipper - tumblr & Tjikicew


	16. This Fight Needs To End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm truly sorry for the long wait! I've been struggling to write this chapter, so I took quite a long break to think about it. I hope I've written it well. I might not upload weekly, but I will try to at least upload once in two weeks. Depends if I would struggle writing the new one or not, also it depends how fast my beta could edit this. Oh! I got another announcement. For those who have a tumblr account, I've made an askblog for Nathaniel / Vulpino. So if you have any questions you want to ask, you can do so to my tumblr account: nathaskblog. Okay, now I'm done talking, enjoy reading~!

"What is taking him so long? Did that stupid tomato head get lost or something?"

Chloé snorted as she annoyingly crossed her arms. She glanced over her shoulder to check if Nathaniel was coming, but there was no sign of him. The sparkle of hope in her eyes slowly faded with disappointment. If she still had her legs, she would hug them at this moment or just run away. She narrowed her eyes and stared down, gripping her sleeves tighter. She felt so helpless in this state. It would be understandable if Nathaniel quit on her, she was only a burden to him. It wasn't like they were truly friends, heck, they even hated each other not so long ago. But she started to care more about him and grew quite fond of him, yet what if it was only her, caring that way. It was her who mostly approached him after all, it was a one-sided action. Maybe Nathaniel still held some grudges against her.

This was no good, she shouldn't behave like this. Why would she even be so bothered by him anyways? It wasn't as if she was in love with him. If she was, she should have acted this way around Adrien too. However, with Adrien she mostly felt happy and with Nathaniel she felt a lot more emotions, overwhelming her. Most of the time those were an annoyance though. She sighed out loud and leaned back on the couch.

"Ugh, what's the matter with me. Quit thinking about him."

"Thinking about who?"

As if she saw a ghost, she reacted with everything that was left of her body. Her eyes wide with horror, her mouth rigid and open, her face slowly turning from pale to a shade of deep red. Out of impulse, she grabbed the pillow on the couch and threw it in to the direction of the redhead's face.

"Don't scare me like this, you idiot!"

Nathaniel groaned when the pillow hit his face. As if she was the only one who was startled. Suddenly screaming as if she witnessed a terrifying monster was rather offending to him. After the pillow fell down, he glared at her.

"You should be thankful that I've returned. Not only that, I brought someone special with me."

Nathaniel stepped aside, looking in the direction of the bookcases where a guy in skin-tight reddish orange suit came forward. He smiled gently towards Chloé, though he mostly felt relieved that his illusion didn't disappear.

"V-vulpino?"

Chloé stuttered, wanting to stand up, but she couldn't. Instead, she looked at Nathaniel and then at Vulpino. Was this why Nath was taking so long? If that was the case, she'd forgive him for being late and scaring her to death. It was a shame that Vulpino had to see her like this though. She didn't even dare to look him directly in the eye. Was she even allowed be happy to finally see Vulpino again, considering the fact that she was in a damaged state?

"Thank you for bringing me here... Nathaniel, right? I will bring miss Bourgeois home, so you don't have to worry about her. You should head home too, where it's safe. I hope you don't mind me escorting you home, miss."

Nathaniel felt slightly weird to talk to himself like this. If he was able to fool Chloé with his acting, maybe he should consider going to acting school. Of course that was but a joke, he would rather go to an art academy.

"No, I'm fine with that… However, will Toma-Nathaniel really be alright?"

She looked rather worried towards Nathaniel. He didn't get hit yet and that meant he was more in danger now. It would be better if he was escorted. She was safe as long as she didn't lie or obviously hid things from people.

"I will be fine, Chloé. Don't worry about me. I will text you when I'm home if that would make you feel more reassured."

Honestly, Vulpino didn't expect Chloé to be so worried about him. She should certainly be more worried about herself. Well, he couldn't really tell her that, the Nathaniel in front of her was an illusion, so she shouldn't worry about him. Moreover, since when did she start to care so much about him anyway? Didn't she already mention that they were just acquaintances or something? She sure acted like he was more to her than that. Did she consider him a friend? Would it be weird to ask her later on? After they defeated the villain of course and after he detransformed.

Chloé sighed lightly and nodded. Nathaniel was still able to run, while it was almost impossible for her to move. Luckily they exchanged their numbers when she commissioned him. Else she might end up worrying till she saw him. Though of course if her legs would return, that meant Truth Seeker was defeated.

"Alright, I will first try something out."

Vulpino grabbed his flute and sounded, creating Chloé legs. Allowing to his illusion powers, Chloé should be able to use these legs as if they were her own. He could've used Fox Fire on her too, to return her to her state before she was harmed, but that would mean he would detransform. So maybe that wasn't a good idea. Creating these illusions only required a small amount of energy. He already created himself and now he imagined Chloe's legs. These were still small, so he had a lot of energy left for the fight. Who knows how many illusions he had to create this time. It was important not to get hit by those Truth feathers, so illusions were in this case very convenient. His illusions could just dash towards Truth Seeker without the fear of getting hurt. Though the more illusions he made at once, the sooner they would disappear, so he had to be careful.

Chloé had gone speechless. She moved her legs and they really moved as if they were her own. She knew about Vulpino's powers, they were the same as that fake hero. At least that was what Alya stated on her blog. However, she never thought that illusions could feel so real. She truly was speechless.

"Can you stand up?"

Vulpino smiled gently, but there was also a hint of concern in his expression. He held out his hands, so Chloé could hold on to them while she was going to stand up in case she needed it. He wasn't sure how those illusion legs would affect her. According to his experience with his power, Chloé should be able to control her legs as if they were her own.

Chloé held onto Vulpino's hands when she was slowly standing up. It felt weird, she knew these legs were illusions, but they did what she wanted, just as her own. She did feel like she became a newborn lamb though, as her legs were slightly wobbly. That made her more nervous. She was already troubled that she needed support in the first place. Though honestly she didn't really mind to rely on Vulpino.

"Since you're not used to these legs yet, shall I carry you home?"

"That might be easier when you're going to jump on and off buildings, no?"

Chloé saw the heroes always jumping around, so she would rather get carried instead of some other way. She didn't even know how else Vulpino was going to escort her back to the hotel. Though it was fairly gentleman-like of him to ask for permission first. She wrapped her arms around Vulpino's neck and was ready to be carried like a precious princess.

"Well, you sure seem to enjoy yourself. I will just excuse myself."

Nathaniel frowned when he saw Chloé's smile when she wrapped her arms around Vulpino. It was as if she was hoping for him to carry her. She wasn't that willing when she was with him as Nathaniel. Well, maybe it made sense since Vulpino is a hero so he was extortionary unique or something. Not that he cared either way, for now he just had to leave this place and disappear without anyone noticing.

"I have to be quick though, so I apologize for the rough trip."

Vulpino said as he looked out of the window. He could hear that Ladybug and Chat Noir were struggling fighting against Truth Seeker. If they had to battle against strong opponents like her or even stronger, who knows how long they would hold out. They also needed to find a way to defeat Hawk Moth, this couldn't go on much longer.

As soon as he stepped out of the bookstore, he started running. He need to create some distance first, before he could jump around. He didn't want Truth Seeker to notice him and endanger Chloé again after all.

Chloé didn't mind if it was going to be rough at all. It would only give her an excuse why she would lean closer in to Vulpino. The tighter she gets to him, the more intimate they might become. Who knows, maybe she could become a hero herself one day.

It only took a few minutes before they arrived at the balcony of the hotel. Vulpino noticed some chairs and placed Chloé delicately on one of those. His fox ears twitched as he heard loud noises coming from the direction where the fight was going on.

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave now."

"Wait!"

Chloé quickly grabbed his arm before he left once again. There might be no other chance for them to meet like this. He had no idea how many times she thought about him after the day he saved her. He even saved her today.

"When can we meet again?"

Vulpino was honestly troubled that Chloé held him back from leaving. He was sure that his hero friends needed his help right now. He softly sighed and turned around, facing Chloé with a tender sweet smile and slightly narrowed eyes.

"We will meet again when night falls, mademoiselle."

He gently took the hand what held him back and put a soft kiss on it before leaving. Maybe he was going a bit overboard, but seeing Chloé's dumbfounded expression and seeing her turning red like a tomato made it totally worth. He chuckled as he left the balcony, squatting down on the railing before he jumped off.

xxx

"You can't avoid my feathers forever~!"

Truth Seeker laughed and shot them from every and all directions. She couldn't keep shooting her feathers forever though, there needed to be some opening. Maybe she could even create one.

"Where is Vulpino when we need him?! I don't think I can swing my staff forever!"

Chat groaned as his arms were slowly getting tired of swinging them around for who knows how long. There must be some way to attack their opponent, but the only one who could just dash without risking anything were Vulpino's illusions.

"Me neither, but I'm sure Vulpino will be here soon!"

She didn't spot Nathaniel around this area any longer. So they must've escaped and that could only mean that Vulpino would arrive soon. In the meantime, she had to find what and where the precious object of this villain is. If she could find that and destroy it, everything would be over.

"Chat, we need to find the precious object of her. Do you see anything that could be important?"

Chat scanned her, but he didn't notice anything. From toe to head, anything could be precious to her. Her dress appeared to be quite fancy, maybe that could be it. Or maybe the necklace she wore. That didn't change color, unlike the rest of her look.

"So it must be the pendant… It's the locket! My lady, the necklace doesn't seem to change at all, it must be that!"

There must be some way to get closer to her. As long as he would just keep his mouth shut, then it wouldn't be that horrible to get hit right? They couldn't keep defending themselves or wait for Vulpino to show up, they needed to take action **now**! He was sure his lady would get mad at him for doing this, but Truth Seeker left him no other choice. He dashed forward, still swinging his staff as a shield against the feathers.

"Chat!"

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Chat Noir leaving her side. He had decided to take action, to take the first move, to be reckless once more. She should really scold him for not valuing his life more! She ground her teeth and glanced around to see if Vulpino was somewhere.

" _Nathaniel… please hurry up."_

"Hey, hey, miss Truth Seeker. Don't you look very pale? Why don't you **lie** down for a bit!"

Chat Noir grinned as he extended his staff at full speed towards her. Of course he would get hit by a feather when doing so, but he would be fine. At least, that was what he believed.

"Ha, why don't we have an **honest heart to heart** talk, mister cat."

She laughed heartily as she dodged the staff just in time, it did leave a scar at her cheek, but she didn't mind that at all as she hit Chat Noir with her feather in his heart. Not only did she hit him, she created a strong wind force with her feathers, which send him flying towards a car. Broken glass could be heard alongside with the car alarm that went off.

Honestly, Chat didn't expect that she could've created a wind force so strong to send him flying like this. He groaned out of pain as soon as his body slammed into the car. His right arm got hit against the windscreen which injured his arm. He held his left hand against the scar, trying to stop the bleeding. He had indeed been rather reckless. However, since Truth Seeker was paying more attention to him, he created an opening for his lady. Hopefully she would use this chance.

"Now, now, why don't you tell us who you truly are, Chat Noir. Who are you under that mask? You know that remaining quiet has no use, right? That only shows that you're obviously hiding something! So spit it out. Unless you want to suffer some great pain."

"I'm…"

He need to buy some time. So remaining quiet was no option… In that case, he just need to drag out the truth. In the meantime, he noticed that Ladybug was indeed getting closer to Truth Seeker. He thought that His Lady might glare at him, but instead, she gave him a heartbroken look. As if she thought that she was going to lose him. He wanted to shout out to her so badly that he was fine, but that would only ruin the plan. Besides, she wouldn't believe him when he was in this broken state.

Chat Noir got so many bruises, he was bleeding, for God sake! Did he truly not consider how she would feel if he was badly hurt over and over again? If only she could've come up with a plan instead of waiting for Vulpino. If only she took action sooner… Then this might've not happened. He might think everything would be alright as long she lucky-charmed the day. However, there would come a day when she could not heal the wounds… when it would be all too late.

She shook her head, trying to shake those fears away. She needed to concentrate on this fight now. Chat was already in danger and he properly did this so she got the chance to grab that necklace. But how? If she would use her Lucky Charm now, of course Truth Seeker would notice her because she would scream it out, so she couldn't do that. Maybe she could use her yo-yo to wrap Truth Seeker's arms and then jump to pull the necklace off her. That might be the only option she had left.

She stood straight up, holding her yo-yo as if it was a baseball. She threw it as if she was the pitcher, also trying to let the yo-yo swing around the villain. It did succeed, the yo-yo went around the arms of Truth Seeker as her guard was down. However, Ladybug noticed a smirk on her face. She felt something piercing through the back of her suit, reaching her heart at rapid speed.

"Did you really think I wouldn't have seen that coming? Fools! Now you both are hit by my feathers! Time to tell me the truth. Quit the heroic act and tell me who you are. Who are you really under those pathetic masks?"

" **You** should quit the act! You're not a real villain, so snap out of it!"

The voice screamed, neither coming from Ladybug or Chat Noir. Soon followed by that voice, when Truth Seeker turned around to the source, she got hit by an orange-brown flute against her stomach. Soon followed by that, another same person appeared from above to pull her hair up. At that moment, another fox hero snatched the necklace.

"Vulpino!"

Chat and Ladybug shouted relieved. He finally made it here. Not only one of him, but three of him! Were those three all illusions or was one of them the real one? Either way, they cheered for their fellow partner. Everything seemed to be going well as he was able to grasp on the necklace. However, they cheered too soon. Everything would've went according to Vulpino's plan if Truth Seeker didn't have quick reflexes to hold onto her necklace.

" **GIVE THAT BACK TO ME!"**

She ignored her pain, she even ignored that her hair was being pulled. She glared with her bright bloody-red eyes to Vulpino. She would not let someone steal this from her. She would not **let** someone defeat her. She would not **be** defeated.

"I'm sorry , but this has to end."

Vulpino uttered as his two other selves clutched her arms, holding her back. He pulled the necklace out of her grip and threw it towards Ladybug, so she could break it and catch the Akuma right away. Meanwhile, the Truth Seeker cried out, cursing the heroes they would regret this.

"No more evil doing for you, little Akuma. Time to de-evilise!"

Ladybug threw her yo-yo at the Akuma after she smashed the necklace on the ground, letting the black butterfly fly away. The yo-yo caught the Akuma as Ladybug pulled it back towards her. The lid opened and a white butterfly flew out peacefully into the sky.

"Bye, bye, little butterfly."

Ladybug smiled tiredly and waved it goodbye. She was so relieved that this fight finally came to an end. Though she shouldn't be relieved that soon as she remembered how badly hurt Chat Noir is. She didn't use her lucky charm this time, so that meant everything still remained the same, right? She rapidly jumped off the building to check on Chat Noir. Everything was still a mess, so she was right. Without using her Lucky Charm and throwing it up, shouting "Miraculous Ladybug", it wouldn't return everything the way they were before the fight.

"Chat! You stupid kitty. Why do you always lay your life on the line to save the day? We should've waited for Vulpino to come…"

Just seeing Chat in this horrible state made her fear again that it might have gone worse for her partner than leaving some bruises. Just remembering all those times that Chat risked his life to protect hers or just being reckless to save the day, broke her heart deeply. Only **thinking** about what she would do without Chat made her already shed tears.

"My lady… Please don't worry, I'm fine. These are just some bruises."

Chat laughed tiredly, trying to reassure his love. However, that went in the total opposite direction. Instead of making her less worried, she snapped.

"THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER CHAT! Don't you care about my feelings at all?! Do you not know how scared I am, seeing you on the edge of dying! You're almost always the one getting hurt. Why are you taking so many risks? Why do you have to protect me every time? I'm not some damsel in distress… I know you're my partner and partners have each other's back… but… but…"

She looked down as her tears fell on the ground. Her hands were clenched into a fist, so tightly as if she was digging her nails into her flesh. She was tired of this. She was tired of seeing someone she cared for so much with bruises all over his body.

"Ladybug…I-I…I'm sorry."

Chat didn't know how to answer. He always thought that he could be the great hero for Ladybug, that she would notice how deeply he cared about her by protecting her. However, she was right. He never saw her as some damsel in distress, but maybe he treated her that way and that was wrong of him. He only made her worry. He wanted but to protect her, because she was the most important person in his life. He wanted to safeguard her because she was so precious to him. Was that so wrong of him? He didn't know anymore. He could only apologize.

"I don't need your sorry Chat. Just please… Don't ever do this again. I don't want to lose you, Chat. I know you want to keep me from harm, but please be more careful. Please value your own life more. You're my **important partner** , no one could replace you. I don't even want to **think** about that!"

Chat snorted once he heard 'important partner'. So he was only that? Just an important partner. Way to partnerzone him. Did she still not get it or was she just flat out rejecting him? He was honestly happy to hear he was important to her, but adding the word 'partner' did hurt him.

"Important partner, huh… I'm only that to you? I know I've never told you directly, neither do I want to make you uncomfortable or push it, but… I also have my limit. I love you Ladybug. That's why I want to protect you. I don't want to see you hurt either! I don't treat you like someone who's weak. As if I could! You're a strong woman and I know that. However, even strong women should be protected when needed. I'm here for you now and always will. You're my everything, Ladybug. I won't be reckless again if that only causes you worry, but I will not stop protecting you from harm."

Ladybug stared horrified and confused at Chat Noir. She always thought he was just playing around, not being serious when he flirted with her. He even kind of flirted with her as Marinette, so how could she have taken him serious? This wasn't like the time when Vulpino confessed to her. Chat made her unsure, making her even doubt her feelings for Adrien. Her mind was not in the right mindset to reply to his confession… so she took a step back.

"I… I need some time to think… I'm sorry."

She whispered softly as she quickly turned around and ran away. She knew it was rather cowardly of her to run away like this, but she couldn't think of any other option.

Vulpino was taking care of Truth Seeker in her civil form while watching everything what happened just now. He didn't really know what to say as some old feelings for Marinette slightly remained in him. He knew how Chat feels and he could imagine what his friend is going through now.

"Miss, will you be fine on your own now?"

He still needed to take care of her first. She was also a victim by Hawk Moth after all. How badly he wanted to rush towards Chat Noir now, he had his own duty as hero as well. He helped the lady stand up and she nodded at him with a kind smile.

"Yes, thank you. I'm fine, I think your friend needs you more than me now."

She nodded towards Chats direction, gesturing he could go to him. Even though she said she was fine, she was still slightly confused what happened a while ago. She couldn't remember what happened after she ran away from home, but if she looked around, she could guess what happened. Not only that, she must've been quite beaten up as her stomach and head hurt.

"Alright, also I'm very sorry. I've hurt you quite a lot during the fight. I will use my Fox Fire to heal you, so don't worry, the pain will vanish. Please do not panic if some blue fire covers you, it won't feel hot or painful."

He said as he turned his flute into the blue fire, covering her in blue flames. She didn't seem to panic, but instead was smiling at him, confirming the pain vanished. She nodded again towards Chat Noir that he can go and Vulpino thanked her for her understanding. She wasn't the only one who was embraced by blue flames, Vulpino spread the fire through the whole of Paris in case something or someone else was damaged or in pain because of the fight. Of course Chat Noir was also covered with blue Fox Fire now.

"I'm sorry I came too late… If I was faster, you didn't have to risk your life and Ladybug wouldn't have snapped at you like that…"

Maybe he should've send out some illusions sooner while he was bringing Chloé home. That would've been way better and he would've been able to help Chat Noir and Ladybug sooner too. It was only now, when it was too late that he thought of it.

"It's alright, foxy. I shouldn't have been reckless in the first place. Either way… this was bound the happen sooner or later anyway."

After Chat Noir felt better, he stood, with Vulpino's support. He was still feeling weak, but the Fox Fire definitely helped out. His right arm felt much better and he could already feel that his scar is fading. Even though he was healing, Vulpino still looked worried about him. Must be because of the other reason than his injuries. He sighed slightly and forced a smile on his face, while putting his hand on Vulpino's shoulder.

"Don't look at me like that as well, Vulpino. Don't worry about me, she said she would think about it. That means I still got hope."

He grinned and tried to lighten up the situation. However, that only made Vulpino more suspicious. In return for that grin, Vulpino was frowning at him. Chat realized it was not long ago that Vulpino was rejected, so this might've been hurtful for him too. He was just about to apologize to him, when Vulpino interrupted him.

"You don't have to force yourself, Chat. I'm here for you, just like you've been there for me. Also don't worry about me, I'm over Ladybug already. I hope she would chose you, Chat. I truly wish for the happiness you deserve."

Chat couldn't help but chuckle at that. He didn't thought Vulpino would be so sincere to him now. Though he already knew that his friend was a sweet guy. He smiled sincerely to Vulpino this time, thanking him for saying that.

"Even though I'm all healed now thanks to you… I do have to admit I'm quite tired, so I will head home."

Before Chat Noir left for home, Vulpino called out to him, still looking anxious. "Don't worry too much about Ladybug, alright?" is what he said. Chat just nodded and left, he sure had a worrywart as friend. Not that he minded, he was glad he had a friend like that. He knew that if Ladybug would reject him, he now have a friend who would be there for him as Chat.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta by Tjikicew


End file.
